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Presented    by 


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X^CAr~\C^^  C>U.(2><7\ 


<§i. 


BV  637  .T49  1888 

Thwing,  Charles  Franklin, 

1853-1937. 
The  working  church 


THE    WORKING    CHURCH. 


THE 


orfetng    B|I)urcI). 


BY 


CHARLES   F.  THWING,  D.D., 

AUTHOR   OF   "AMERICAN   COLLEGES:    THEIR   STUDENTS   AND    WORK, 
"the   READING   OF   BOOKS;"    AND  JOINT   AUTHOR   OF 

"the  family:   an   historical  and 
social  study  ;  "  etc. 


^ 


NEW    YORK: 
THE   BAKER   AND    TAYLOR   CO. 

740  AND  742  Broadway. 


Copyright,  1888, 
By  The  Baker  and  Taylor  Co. 


Press  of  J.  J.  Little  &  Co., 
Astor  Place,  New  York. 


TO 

Z\)t  ^ijjo  Cfjurdjes 

I    HAVE    LOVED    AND   SERVED   AS   MINISTER  : 

THE    NORTH    AVENUE   CONGREGATIONAL,    OF   CAMBRIDGE, 

AND 

THE   PLYMOUTH,    OF   MINNEAPOLIS, 


CONTENTS. 


Chapter  Page 

I.    The  Church  and  the  Pastor:   In- 
troductory       9 

11.     The  Character  OF  Church  Work  .  i6 
III.     The  Worth  and  the  Worthlessness 

OF  Methods 3' 

IV.     Among  the  Children 37 

V.     Among  the  Young  People  ....  53 

VI.    Among  Business  Men 62 

VII.     From  the  Business  Point  of  View  70 

VIII.     Two  Special  Agencies 86 

IX.     Treatment  of  Strangers  ....  98 

X.    The  Unchurched 109 

XI.     Benevolence 127 

XII.    The  Rewards  of  Christian  Work  .  145 


^*^  Parts  of  several  of  the  chapters  have  been  published  in 
such  journals  as  the  "Independent,"  "Christian  Union,"  "Con- 
gregationalist,"  and  "Advance." 


THE  WORKING  CHURCH. 


CHAPTER  I. 

CHURCH  AND  PASTOR.  —  INTRODUCTORY. 

HE  Church  is  at  once  the  church  of 
the  Son  of  God  and  the  church  of 
the  Son  of  Man.  It  is  the  church 
of  the  Son  of  God.  He  is  its  head  ;  He  is  its 
Spirit,  and  it  is  His  body  ;  He  is  its  life.  Its 
origin  is  in  the  principle  of  divine  love  em- 
bodied in  Him.  Its  history  is  the  history  of 
the  unveiling  of  the  principle  of  human  re- 
demption. The  church  is  the  church  of  the 
Son  of  Man.  It  includes  all  those  who  accept 
the  principle  of  divine  love,  and  endeavor  to 
obey  the  duties  revealed  by  this  love.  It  in- 
cludes all  those  who  are  "  predestinated,"  says 


lO  THE    WORKING   CHURCH. 

Wycliffe.  It  embraces  all  holding  the  Word 
and  observing  the  sacraments,  says- Luther. 
It  is  the  visible  organization  in  which  pure 
doctrine  is  taught,  says  Melanchthon.  It  is  a 
society  in  v^hich  every  regenerate  soul  is  a 
component  part,  says  Schleiermacher.  It  is 
the  religious  community  into  which  civil  so- 
ciety grows  in  its  moral  development,  sug- 
gests Rothe.  The  Church,  therefore,  is  at 
once  divine  and  human,  —  divine  in  origin,  di- 
vine in  continued  dependence  on  divine  grace, 
divine  in  the  glorious  consummation  which 
awaits  its  development ;  human  in  including 
mankind,  and  in  having  as  its  sphere  of  ac- 
tivity the  whole  world.  Down  to  the  Refor- 
mation of  the  sixteenth  century  the  Church 
was  considered  primarily  as  a  divine  insti- 
tution ;  in  the  last  three  hundred  years  its 
human  relations  have,  with  each  passing 
generation,  become  more  conspicuous. 

It  is  to  the  human  relations  of  the  Church 
that  this  book  is  devoted.  Of  these  human 
relations  only  the  more  aggressive  are  in- 
cluded within  its  view. 


CHURCH  AND  PASTOR.  1 1 

The  work  of  Christ's  redemption  is  con- 
tinued by  His  Church.  The  labor  of  the 
Church,  therefore,  is  primarily  the  turning  of 
men  from  sin  unto  righteousness.  Its  pur- 
pose is  the  incarnation  of  holiness  in  the 
individual  and  in  the  community.  The  field 
of  this  labor  embraces  all  classes,  ages,  and 
conditions. 

Its  prime  duty  is  the  conversion  to,  and 
edification  in,  Christ  of  those  who  are  within 
its  immediate  relation  ;  but  it  also  bears  rela- 
tions to  the  universal  cause  of  Christ,  and 
owes  duties  to  philanthropy.  It  is  the  great 
missionary  power.  It  is  to  obey  the  com- 
mand of  going  forth  and  evangelizing  the 
world.  Missionary  endeavor — local,  national, 
universal  —  is  its  simple  duty,  and  is  also  its 
increasing  joy.  Its  members  should  heed 
the  individual  call  of  the  consecration  of 
their  lives  and  of  their  wealth  to  this  ser- 
vice. Every  form  of  wise  charity  it  should 
seek  to  foster  ;  it  should  strive  to  inspire 
charity  with  the  spirit  of  Christ,  and  to 
impress  it  with  the  methods  of  Christian  self- 


12  THE   WORKING   CHURCH. 

helpfulness.  It  is  itself  a  temperance  organ- 
ization, and  should  co-operate  with  every 
wise  endeavor  for  ridding  the  home  and  the 
nation  of  the  direful  curse  of  drunkenness. 
It  should  strive  to  teach  labor  its  dignity  and 
duties,  and  capital  its  responsibilities  and 
worthy  rights.  It  should  seek  to  dispel  pov- 
erty by  removing  its  causes,  giving  not  alms 
so  much  as  friendship.  It  should  welcome 
every  wise  attempt  to  construct  the  social 
order  upon  a  better  basis  than  the  present, 
yet  disavowing  all  regard  for  a  godless  com- 
munism. It  should  show  to  the  working-man 
that  every  movement  toward  a  free  Sunday  is 
a  movement  toward  a  working  Sunday.  It 
should,  in  general,  prove  itself  a  friend  to 
every  man  whom  it  can  help  to  make  more 
worthy  of  the  Christ  who  died  for  him. 

The  sphere  of  the  Church  is  as  broad  as  the 
world  :  its  work  is  limited  only  by  the  needs 
of  sinning,  suffering  humanity  ;  its  duty  is 
measured  only  by  its  power,  in  the  name  of 
Christ,  of  serving  and  saving  lost  men.  In 
its  relation  to  other  churches  of  the  same  or 


CHURCH  AND  PASTOR.  13 

Other  order,  the  individual  church  is  to  be 
guided  by  the  principles  of  Christian  liberty 
and  courtesy.  Laboring  for  the  public  weal, 
it  is  never  to  strive  to  build  itself  through  the 
decline  of  other  worthy  interests.  It  is  to 
recognize  that  the  prosperity  of  all  churches 
and  the  prosperity  of  common  interests  and 
objects  are  more  worthy  than  its  own  individ- 
ual growth.  Yet  it  is  always  to  labor  to  make 
itself  vigorous,  strong,  and  efficient,  for  the 
sake  of  Him  to  whom  it  belongs  and  whom 
it  serves,  and  for  the  sake  of  the  world  He 
would  save. 

The  pastor  of  a  church  holds  to  it  a  two- 
fold relation,  — ■  that  of  preacher  and  of  chief 
executive  officer.  The  preaching  should  be 
devoted  to  the  promotion  of  Christian  char- 
acter. Its  content  and  burden  should  be  the 
gospel.  Its  methods  should  be  adapted  to  the 
intellectual  and  other  conditions  of  those  to 
whom  it  is  addressed.  Its  tone  should  be  inva- 
riably warm,  earnest,  and  spiritual.  It  should 
embrace  the  doctrines,  and  should  also  be  in- 
tensely practical  in  aim  and  application.     It 


14  THE   WORKING   CHURCH. 

should  be  supported  by  the  Bible,  and  should 
prove  itself  true  and  just  to  human  reason. 
It  should  be  convincing  in  argument  and  per- 
suasive in  appeal.  It  should  be  the  truth  of 
God  known  in  the  life  of  the  preacher,  mak- 
ing itself  known  to  other  lives.  It  should  be 
at  once,  in  the  broadest  and  narrowest  sense, 
Christian. 

The  executive  work  of  the  pastor  is  as 
broad  and  diverse  as  the  work  of  the  church. 
But  his  chief  purpose  is  to  develop  the  activi- 
ties of  his  church  as  a  Christian  institution. 
He  is,  therefore,  to  plan  methods  and  to  sug- 
gest lines  of  Christian  service  ;  to  stimulate 
energy  ;  to  adjust  work  to  worker,  and  worker 
to  work.  He  is  to  unite  individuals  into  co- 
operative labor.  He  is  also  to  attempt  to 
allot  to  each  member  some  specific  and  in- 
dividual Christian  service.  He  is  to  work 
through  workers.  Yet  he  should  be  ashamed 
to  spare  himself.  In  his  general  bearing  he 
is  to  be  a  bishop,  overseeing  the  individual 
lives  of  the  members  ;  a  shepherd  in  the  older 
meaning,  leading  and  not  driving  his  flock, 


CHURCH  AND  PASTOR.  1 5 

loving  and  trying  to  show  himself  worthy  of 
being  loved,  trusting  and  trusted,  as  he  may 
merit  ;  a  minister,  rejoicing  in  every  oppor- 
tunity of  service  for  his  Master  among  m,en. 
In  a  larger  and  more  public  relation  he  should 
not  fail  to  conceive  and  to  do  his  duty  to  the 
cause  of  education,  embodied  in  school  and 
college,  endeavoring  to  make  it  Christian  ; 
never,  moreover,  should  he  forget  that  he  is 
a  citizen  of  a  Commonwealth  whose  founders 
regarded  the  Church  and  the  State  as  one. 

But  if  the  pastor  is  a  minister  of  the  church, 
he  is  also,  and  more,  a  minister  of,  and  for,  and 
by  Christ.  Like  the  disciples  on  the  Mount 
of  Transfiguration,  he  is  to  see  no  man  "save 
Jesus  only."  The  truth  of  Christ  he  is  to 
know,  the  duty  of  Christ  to  do,  and  the  com- 
mendation of  Christ  to  endeavor  to  receive. 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE  CHARACTER  OF  CHURCH  WORK. 

HE  course  of  study  in  the  theological 
seminaries  has  been  greatly  enlarged 
within  a  decade.  Biblical  theology, 
archaeology,  languages  cognate  to  the  He- 
brew, and  science  in  its  relation  to  religion, 
have  found  a  place  in  the  curriculum.  Es- 
sential as  some  teachers  regard  these  studies 
to  the  complete  scholarly  equipment  of  the 
minister,  they  are  yet  not  as  essential  as  a 
subject  in  which  little  or  no  instruction  is 
given.  This  subject  relates  to  the  adminis- 
trative or  executive  work  of  a  church.  In 
one  sense  this  department  is  akin  to  what  is 
usually  called  pastoral  theology ;  in  another 
sense  it  is  quite  remote.  As  pastoral  theol-^ 
ogy  has  been  taught,  it  consists  of  the  barest 
commonplaces    and    insipid    platitudes.      My 


CHARACTER   OF  CHURCH  WORK.  \J 

own  Studies  at  a  theological  school  are  not 
so  distant  that  my  memory  of  them  is  in- 
distinct ;  but  the  chief  fact  in  the  course 
of  lectures  on  pastoral  theology  —  delivered 
by  a  most  godly  and  lovable  professor,  now  of 
blessed  memory  —  which  I  yet  recall,  is  that 
a  pastor  should  not,  under  ordinary  condi- 
tions, make  a  call  of  more  than  twenty  min- 
utes. Instructions  as  to  the  performance  of 
a  marriage  or  the  conduct  of  a  funeral  service 
or  the  leading  of  a  prayer-meeting  are  not 
by  any  manner  of  means  to  be  despised  ;  but 
such  instructions  are  no  more  adequate  to  the 
demands  which  the  young  minister  is  asked 
to  meet,  than  the  old  spinning-wheel  is  capable 
of  furnishing  thread  for  the  modern  loom. 

The  problem  which  every  young  minister 
meets  in  his  installation  over  a  church  is  this: 
What  car^be  done  to  put  this  church  to  work? 
What  can  be  done  to  cause  it  to  impress 
Christian  sentiment  upon  this  community  ? 
What  can  I,  its  pastor,  do  to  make  this 
church  a  power  ?  How  shall  I  work  with 
it  ?     His  sermons  may  be  biblical,  eloquent, 


1 8  THE   WORKING   CHURCH. 

instructive,  inspiring  ;  his  pastoral  visits  re- 
lentless in  their  systematic  thoroughness  ; 
his  leadership  of  the  devotional  meetings 
wise  :  but  all  this,  his  work,  does  not  quicken 
the  church  to  its  work.  Over  and  above  all 
this,  are  several  departments  or  sections  of 
church  work  which  he  should  organize  and 
formulate,  and  for  the  organization  and  formu- 
lation of  which  the  training  of  the  theological 
school  should  give  him  aid. 

The  training  of  the  baptized  children  in 
the  truths  and  duties  of  the  covenant  which 
their  parents  have  made  in  their  behalf ;  the 
training  also  of  all  the  children  in  a  knowl- 
edge of  the  Bible  and  of  Christian  doctrine ; 
the  ways  and  means  of  conducting  classes  in 
some  catechism  or  synopsis  of  bibhcal  truth  ; 
the  work  with,  for,  and  through  the  young  men 
and  women  of  the  parish,  —  their.organiza- 
tion  for  aggressive  hbor,  sympathy  with  them 
in  the  difficulties  besetting  the  first  years  of 
Christian  experience,  and  the  methods  of 
arousing  and  guiding  their  enthusiasm  ;  the 
ways  and  means  for  reaching  the  unchurched, 


CHARACTER   OF  CHURCH  WORK.  1 9 

—  the  character  of  the  popular  Sunday-even- 
ing service,  the  neighborhood  prayer-meeting, 
the  open-air  meeting  of  the  Sabbath  afternoon 
in  the  city,  the  reaching  the  back  districts 
in  the  country  through  school-house  Sunday- 
schools,  prayer-meetings,  and  preaching  ser- 
vices ;  the  work  for  the  intemperate,  for  the 
young  in  reference  to  temperance,  sewing- 
schools,  cooking-schools,  and  similar  philan- 
thropic agencies  ;  special  endeavors  to  restore 
lapsed  church-members  ;  assigning  special 
church  work  to  each  new  member  ;  the  in- 
troduction of  the  new  families  joining  the 
congregation  to  the  older  families;  methods 
of  greeting  and  interesting  strangers  in  the 
church  ;  the  Sunday-school  in  all  its  manifold 
interests  of  the  instruction  of  teacher  and 
pupil,  of  division  into  departments  and  classes, 
of  keeping  vigorous  the  spiritual  side  of  the 
teaching  ;  the  organization  of  mission  schools, 

—  all  these,  and  many  more  features  and 
departments,  the  young  pastor,  immediately 
after  his  first  service  on  the  Sabbath,  is 
called  to  consider.     A  minister  of  large  com- 


20  THE   WORKING   CHURCH. 

mon  sense,  without  previous  training,  will 
attack  the  problem  and  solve  it  to  the  best 
of  his  ability.  But  many  ministers  will  be 
either  unconscious  that  any  such  problem  is 
before  them,  or  will  be  inclined  to  sit  down 
before  it  with  hands  folded. 

The  solution  of  the  religious  problem  of 
the  city  lies  in  the  administration  of  the 
church.  So,  also,  does  the  solution  of  the 
equally  important  religious  problem  of  the 
country.  No  class  of  professional  men  is 
working  more  hours  each  week,  or  working 
more  severely  than  the  clerical.  The  sur- 
prise is  that  their  sermons  are  as  good  as 
they  are.  The  seminaries  train  students  well, 
never  better,  for  doing  their  individual  work 
of  writing  helpful  sermons.  To  the  sermon 
I  would  assign  the  highest  place  in  Christian 
instruction  and  inspiration.  But  the  minister 
should  know  that  his  chief  executive  work  is 
to  make  other  people  work.  He  can  do  little, 
very  little  himself,  to  lessen  misery,  to  arouse 
religious  conviction,  and  to  convert  the  city  or 
the  village  to  sound  views  or  righteous  prac- 


CHARACTER   OF  CHURCH  WORK.  21 

tice.  He  should  read  carefully  the  lesson 
of  his  inability  and  limitations.  But  he  also 
should  know  that  through  others  the  little 
one  himself  may  become  a  thousand.  Let 
him  be  the  commander-in-chief,  not  to  fight 
himself,  but  to  train  others  for  fighting,  to 
plan  the  campaign  and  put  these  trained 
workers  into  the  field  of  action.  The 
churches  —  that  is,  the  individual  members 
of  the  churches  —  are  to  do  Christ's  work. 
The  pastor  is  the  chief  of  directors.  The 
most  useful  church  is  the  most  laborious 
church.  Not  less  preaching,  but  more  ;  not 
less  learning,  but  more  ;  not  less  eloquence, 
but  more  ;  but  above  all  present  human  in- 
struments, abiUty  to  put  a  church  to  work  in 
its  community,  is  the  need. 

Various  definitions  are  given  of  the  Church, 
according  as  the  Church  is  conceived  as  local 
or  universal,  denominational  or  catholic,  visi- 
ble or  invisible  ;  but  these  various  defini- 
tions have  one  common  element,  a  belief  in 
Christ  as  the  Saviour  of  the  world.  It  would 
be   well,   I    think,  if   our  conception   of  the 


22  THE   WORKING   CHURCH. 

Church  could  be  so  formulated  as  expressly 
to  include,  not  simply  those  believing  in 
Christ  as  the  world's  Saviour,  but  also  those 
who  are  laboring  to  bring  the  world  unto 
Christ  to  be  saved.  The  Church  is  the  col- 
lective body  of  those  who  are  endeavoring  to 
serve  Christ  among  men.  The  idea  of  the 
Church  as  a  working  force  needs  reiterated 
emphasis.  For  the  Church  is  the  incarnate 
Christ,  and  is  to  continue  and  to  complete  the 
work  which  He  came  to  begin.  The  Church 
is  the  evangelizing,  missionary  power.  The 
mission  of  the  Holy  Ghost  we  are  to  honor 
and  to  co-operate  with  ;  but  with  His  purpose 
of  leading  into  all  truth  and  of  sanctifying 
men,  we  are  in  closest  union  when  we  obey 
the  command  of  Him  who  sent  the  Holy 
Spirit,  the  command  to  "  go."  The  Roman 
Catholic  Church  has  its  order  of  workers ; 
but  in  the  Protestant  Church  each  member 
is  supposed  to  be  a  worker.  Wesley's  motto, 
with  slight  variations,  is  right :  **  All  at  it,  at 
all  times,  in  all  places,  and  in  all  ways."  We 
should  not  have  simply  the  church  of  Saint 


CHARACTER   OF  CHURCH  WORK.  23 

Paul,  the  church  holding  forth  the  faith ; 
neither  should  we  have  simply  the  church  of 
Saint  James,  on  whose  front  works  are  bla- 
zoned ;  but  we  should  have  the  Church  of 
Christ,  in  which  neither  faith  nor  works  are 
neglected,  but  in  which  both  are  harmoniously 
united  and  effectively  adjusted.  It  is,  there- 
fore, evident  that  the  Church  of  Christ  is  the 
Church  at  work  in  Christ's  service. 

To  the  church  thus  at  work  the  pastor 
holds  the  relation  of  bishop,  overseer,  presi- 
dent, director,  guide.  He  is  himself  to  be  a 
laborious  worker.  He  cannot  hope  to  have 
his  church  at  work,  unless  he  is  at  once  an 
example  and  an  inspiration.  If  he  be  labo- 
rious ;  cordial  to  strangers  and  new  families  ; 
attentive  to  the  sick,  the  mourning,  and  the 
poor  ;  wisely  regular  in  his  parochial  labor  ; 
thoughtful  of  those  requiring  special  watch 
and  ward,  as  the  new  convert  and  the  in- 
quirer ;  strong,  vigorous,  aggressive,  eager  to 
do  as  much  as  possible,  —  his  church  will 
catch  the  enthusiasm  of  his  example,  and  will 
be  aroused   by  the  inspiration   of   his  work. 


24  THE   WORKING   CHURCH. 

Choose  the  churches  in  New  York,  Chicago, 
Boston,  Philadelphia,  which  are  most  active 
and  aggressive,  and  it  will  be  found,  with 
scarcely  an  exception,  that  they  are  the 
churches  manned  by  the  most  active,  aggres- 
sive, and  laborious  ministers.  The  old  min- 
ister said  to  the  young  minister,  "  If  you  are 
a  faithful  minister  of  Jesus  Christ,  you  will 
have  many  an  aching  head,  weary  back,  and 
heavy  heart."  Yes  ;  the  minister's  head  ought 
to  ache,  and  his  back  ought  to  be  weary,  and 
his  heart  ought  to  be  heavy,  in  the  noble 
and  devoted  earnestness  of  his  labor.  As  a 
class,  ministers  are  more  laborious  than  law- 
yers or  doctors  ;  but  most  ministers  should 
be  far  more  devoted  to  the  work.  If  they 
cannot  be  Pauls,  they  can  be  Paul-like  in  the 
enthusiasm,  courage,  and  persistency  of  their 
work. 

In  arousing  his  church  to  its  work  and  \\\ 
securing  workers,  the  pastor  will  receive  aid 
by  making  the  tone  of  his  preaching  mis- 
sionary and  evangelizing.  The  conception  of 
the  Church  as  a  collective  bodv  of  Christians 


CHARACTER    OF  CHURCH  WORK.  25 

laboring  in  Christ's  cause  should  be  almost 
as  constant  an  element  in  each  sermon  as 
the  statement  of  the  terms  of  salvation.  He 
should  seek  to  indoctrinate  his  hearers  with 
the  gospel  of  work.  This  general  character 
of  his  preaching  will  not  prevent  him  from 
occasionally  devoting  special  sermons  to  spe- 
cial departments  or  demands.  But  beside  this 
method  and  principle,  each  pastor  should  per- 
sonally and  individually  call  men  to  special 
service.  Knowing  the  work  which  God  seems 
to  ordain  his  Church  to  do,  alert  to  discover 
those  who  may  serve  in  this  divinely  appointed 
mission,  he  should  be  as  the  chaplain  of  St. 
Andrews  who  summoned  John  Knox  into 
the  Christian  ministry  :  **  I  charge  thee,  as 
thou  hast  a  regard  for  the  glory  of  God,  the 
salvation  of  men,  and  your  own  eternal  well- 
being,  that  you  neglect  not  this  duty  to  which 
God  calls." 

The  pastor  can  and  may  in  God's  name 
summon  men  to  service  in  the  Sabbath- 
school,  to  service  in  gathering  in  the  un- 
churched, to  service  in  establishing  missions, 


26  THE   WORKING   CHURCH. 

to  service  in  the  cause  of  charity,  to  service 
in  any  one  of  the  Unes  of  endeavor  by  which 
the  Church  seeks  to  mo.ve  the  world. 

Though  no  member  is  to  be  indifferent  to 
any  part  of  the  work  of  the  church,  each 
member  has  abilities  which  more  efficiently 
qualify  him  for  service  in  one  part  than  in 
another.  The  dictate  of  common  sense  and 
the  dictate  of  the  Scripture  is  that  he  de- 
vote his  powers  to  those  lines  of  work  in 
which  they  will  prove  of  most  worth.  One 
man,  with  a  peculiar  readiness  of  address,  may 
be  ordained  by  the  pastor  for  looking  after 
the  unchurched  and  the  new  families  taking 
up  their  residence  in  the  neighborhood  of  the 
church.  To  one  woman  may  be  committed 
the  special  task  of  gathering  children  into 
the  Sunday-school.  To  another  woman  may  be 
intrusted  the  duty  of  instructing  the  children 
in  the  Bible,  in  a  way  more  thorough  than  the 
hour  of  the  Sabbath-school  permits.  The 
charitable  work,  not  in  the  negative  sense  of 
giving  away  old  clothes  or  sending  out  dozens 
of  Thanksgiving  turkeys,  but  in  the  positive 


CHARACTER   OF  CHURCH  WORK.  2/ 

sense  of  showing  one's  self  a  genuine  friend 
to  those  in  need,  may  be  commended  to  the 
wise  diligence  of  a  special  board  of  ladies  and 
gentlemen.  The  work,  too,  of  instructing  the 
young  men  and  women  in  the  Bible  and  in 
Christian  doctrine  and  in  matters  of  church 
work  should  be  placed  in  the  special  charge 
of  those  competent  for  this  serious  duty. 
The  outlook  committee  on  mission  work, 
local,  national,  foreign,  should  not  fail  of  re- 
ceiving consideration. 

The  pastor,  seeing  the  work  which  his 
church  ought  to  do,  understanding  so  far  as 
possible  the  abilities  of  its  members,  should 
seek  to  set  each  member  to  that  task  to 
which  nature  and  grace  have  fitted  him.  His 
worthy  purpose  is  to  put  others  to  work. 
He  may  in  the  first  year  of  his  pastorate 
work  much  harder  in  getting  his  church  to 
work  than  he  would  in  doing  himself  all 
the  work  which  he  gets  it  to  do ;  but  it  is 
better  for  the  church  always,  and  in  the  end 
better  for  himself,  that  this  division  and  sub- 
division of  labor  be  pursued.     Let  the  pas- 


28  THE   WORKING   CHURCH. 

tor  himself  train  special  workers  for  special 
works.  Agassiz  was  once  asked  what  was 
his  greatest  work  in  Ameriea.  His  reply 
was,  the  training  of  three  men.  "  One," 
said  the  great  naturalist,  **  has  abandoned 
my  theories,  and  one  has  become  indifferent 
to  me  ;  but  the  scientific  training  of  three 
scholars  is  my  greatest  work," — greater 
than  the  building  of  the  great  museum  at 
Cambridge,  greater  than  all  the  investiga- 
tions on  two  continents  which  made  him 
one  of  the  first  naturalists  of  the  century. 
Likewise  many  a  pastor  finds  his  greatest 
work  in  a  ministry,  not  the  building  of  a 
splendidly  equipped  meeting-house,  not  the 
receiving  even  of  hundreds  into  church-fellow- 
ship, but  the  conversion  to  Christ  and  the 
training  of  a  few  men  and  women  who  are 
thus  qualified  for  eminent  service.  Let  each 
pastor  know  the  work  which  his  church  is 
evidently  by  its  position  ordained  of  God  to 
do.  Let  him,  with  this  knowledge,  study  to 
allot  this  work  in  its  diverse  forms  to  those 
who  can  and  ought  to  do  it. 


CHARACTER   OF  CHURCH  WORK.  29 

Having  secured  his  co-workers,  the  pastor 
is  to  train  them  for  effective  labor.  In  most 
instances  these  whom  he  thus  invites  are  in 
greater  or  less  need  of  instruction  and  disci- 
pline in  church  work.  The  work  itself  is  the 
best  training-school,  but  he  may  himself  give 
them  aid.  The  more  than  four  hundred  mis- 
sionaries of  the  London  City  Mission  receive 
a  training  more  or  less  peculiarly  fitted  to 
their  peculiar  duties.  The  instruction  which 
a  pastor  gives  may  be  special  and  individual; 
but  the  main  purpose  which  qualifies  all  his 
teaching  is  to  teach  the  use  of  the  Bible  in 
bringing  the  unconverted  to  Christ.  In  fol- 
'  lowing  this  aim  he  will  give  instruction  in 
the  Scriptures,  and  in  particular  in  the  fun- 
damental truths  of  the  Scriptures.  He  will 
illustrate  and  emphasize  his  meanings  by  the 
use  of  actual  instances  of  conversion.  God 
the  Father,  God  the  Saviour,  God  the  Holy 
Ghost,  grace,  repentance,  forgiveness,  confes- 
sion, faith,'  regeneration,  conversion,  justifica- 
tion, are  subjects  which  he  considers  in  the 
light  of  the  Bible.     In  the  study  of  individual 


30  THE   WORKING   CHURCH. 

cases  he  will  seek  to  show  how  the  Word, 
"  fitly  spoken  "  and  "  in  season,"  has  proved 
to  be  the  "  sword  of  the  Spirit,"  sharper  than  a 
"  two  edged-sword,  piercing  even  to  the  divid- 
ing asunder  of  soul  and  spirit  .  .  .  and  a  dis- 
cerner  of  the  thoughts  and  intents  of  the 
heart."  He  will  endeavor  to  give  sugges- 
tions as  to  dealing  with  the  doubter,  the  igno- 
rant, the  fearful,  the  discouraged,  the  wilful, 
the  complaining,  the  proud,  those  lacking  con- 
viction, those  lacking  decision,  those  weak  in 
the  faith,  backsliders,  and  new  converts. 
Thus,  month  by  month,  year  by  year,  train- 
ing his  associates  to  service,  he  tries  to  equip 
them  for  the  general  or  particular  duties  to 
which  nature  and  grace  seem  to  call  them. 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE  WORTH  AND  THE  WORTHLESSNESS 
OF  METHODS. 

VERY  pastor  has  his  methods  in 
working  with  and  for  his  church, 
and  in  getting  his  church  to  work. 
The  exact  nature  of  these  methods  is  of  less 
importance  than  the  fact  that  the  methods 
are  his  own,  —  methods  with  which  he  is  ac- 
quainted and  which  he  can  handle.  Eccle- 
siastical methods,  like  personal  habits,  are 
constitutional.  If  they  are  not  his  own,  if 
he  fails  to  understand  them,  he  is  quite  as 
helpless  as  David  in  Goliath's  armor,  or  as 
Goliath  with  David's  sling  and  stones.  In 
his  use  of  methods  of  work  the  pastor  is 
exposed  to  perils. 

Among  these  perils  is  the  danger  of  believ- 
ing that  methods  which  are  successful  in  one 


32  THE   WORKING   CHURCH. 

church  will  prove  successful  in  another,  or 
•that  methods  which  succeed  in  a  church  at 
one  time  will  always  succeed.  Methods  should 
be  very  elastic.  They  should  be  capable  of 
great  adaptiveness.  They  should  be  adjusted 
to  the  peculiar  needs  of  each  church.  For 
instance,  the  prayer-meeting  should  be  a 
meeting  for,  and  of,  and  by  the  people.  But 
a  church  may  for  generations  have  been  ac- 
custome'd  to  regard  this  meeting  as  a  lecture 
by  the  minister.  The  newly  installed  pastor, 
with  memories  of  the  pleasant  conferences  of 
his  former  charge,  cannot  transform  the  hour 
of  a  lecture  given  by  one  into  an  hour  of 
religious  conversation  shared  in  by  a  score. 
Moreover,  the  type  of  the  prayer-meeting  in 
which  religious  conversation  prevails  may  in 
time  become  vapid  and  inconsequential.  The 
pastor  should  endeavor  to  throw  greater  in- 
tellectual vigor  into  its  exercises  without  dim- 
inishing their  heartiness.  In  every  respect  a 
pastor  should  hold  himself  ready  to  surrender 
or  to  alter  his  methods  according  to  the  de- 
mands of  the  place  or  the  time. 


WORTH  OF  METHODS.  33 

In  thus  doing,  the  pastor  is  guarded  from 
a  not  uncommon  peril,  —  namely,  of  believing 
that  methods  have  intrinsic  worth.  Of  course 
we  all  know  that  they  are  good  only  so  far 
forth  as  they  do  good ;  yet  long  associations 
with  methods  may  result  in  transferring  our 
regard  for  the  end  to  the  means  by  which  the 
end  is  gained.  Systematic  pastoral  visitation 
is  an  idol  with  not  a  few  ministers  ;  but  the 
annual  or  biennial  call  on  each  family  is  not 
an  ideal  which  is  to  be  followed  inflexibly 
without  reference  to  the  real  needs  of  any 
family,  or  to  the  good  which  a  pastor  may 
do  by  special  attention  to  certain  households. 
Each  minister  is  to  put  his  pastoral  or  his 
other  work  in  that  place  where  it  will  effect 
the  richest  results. 

In  subordinating  methods  to  ends,  aid  may 
be  drawn  from  keeping  constantly  before  the 
mind  and  heart  the  supreme  aim  of  all  church 
work,  —  the  development  of  Christian  char- 
acter. If  any  method  fails  to  achieve  this 
purpose,  it  is  useless  ;  if  it  succeeds  in  achiev- 
ing this  purpose,  it  has  value.  Every  method 
3 


34  THE   WORKING   CHURCH. 

should  be  brought  to  this  ultimate  test  of 
conversion  and  edification.  No  matter  how 
perfect  the  machinery  of  a  church,  or  how 
admirably  and  noiselessly  or  boisterously  it 
moves,  if  it  fails  here  it  is  a  complete  failure. 
We  must  maintain  this  aim  as  ultimate  and 
supreme,  and  cause  methods  to  adjust  them- 
selves to  this  ideal.  This  most  worthy  pur- 
pose elevates  toil,  ennobles  self-sacrifice, 
adjusts  difficulties,  eliminates  selfishness, 
strengthens  patience,  gives  to  work  enthu- 
siasm and  enlargement,  and  crowns  it  with 
increasing  success. 

A  pastor  should  also  guard  himself  from 
the  danger  of  imposing  his  methods  on 
churches  unwilUng  or  indifferent  to  receive 
them.  We  ministers  are  not  to  have  pet 
hobbies  to  impose  on  anybody,  least  of  all 
on  those  whose  servants  we  are.  We  are  to 
justify  the  wisdom  of  what  we  propose  to  do 
in  a  church,  and  of  the  ways  in  which  we 
hope  to  win  our  aim.  This  justification  it  is 
not  necessary  to  herald  in  advance,  if  our 
purposes    are    right    and    our  methods   wise. 


WORTH   OF  METHODS.  35 

They  will  prove  to  be  their  own  justification. 
It  may  be  that  a  church  to  whose  pastorate  a 
minister  is  called,  has  methods  and  practices 
which  are  superior  to  any  he  may  himself 
possess.  In  this  case  he  should  be  more  than 
willing  to  adopt  these  methods,  and  to  work 
them  to  the  best  of  his  ability.  Along  this 
same  line  it  is  to  be  still  further  said  that 
abrupt  changes  of  method  are  usually  evil. 
Churches,  no  more  than  children,  like  to  be 
jerked.  It  is  also  worthy  of  remark  that  we 
young  ministers  in  particular  are  in  danger, 
in  an  adoption  of  church  methods,  of  not 
showing  sufficient  deference  to  elders  and  to 
those  who  have  special  interest  in  the  church. 
It  may  also  be  true  that  we  are  in  peril  of 
paying  too  much  deference  to  the  wealthy 
and  scholarly  classes.  To  avoid  this  peril  of 
pastoral  autocracy,  the  pastor  shouM  hold  full 
and  frequent  conferences  with  the  officers, 
and  should  not  adopt  important  measures 
except  with  their  approval  and  the  promise 
of  their  hearty  co-operation.  For  he  is  not 
lord  or  autocrat,  but  overseer,  president,  nay, 


36  THE   WORKING   CHUBCH. 

the  servant,  of  his  church,  and  of  him  whom 
he  calls  Master. 

It  is  further  to  be  borne  in  mind  that  no 
method,  however  perfect,  is  a  substitute  for 
power.  The  method  is  only  the  way  in 
which  the  intellectual,  emotional,  volitional, 
spiritual  power  is  manifest.  Method  without 
power  is  a  locomotive  on  the  track  without 
steam.  Power  without  method  is  the  loco- 
motive with  steam  in  the  boiler  and  pipe,  but 
derailed  and  ploughing  its  path  to  its  own  de- 
struction. Power  manifests  itself  in  method, 
but  method  is  no  substitute  for  power.  Noth- 
ing takes  the  place  of  a  real  love  on  the  part 
of  the  pastor  for  his  people.  If  he  fails  to 
love  them,  the  wisest  of  methods  will  succeed 
in  winning  only  a  partial  success.  If  he  loves 
them,  his  best  methods  will  succeed  more 
thoroughly  by  reason  of  his  love  ;  and  his 
indifferent  methods  will  prove  of  some  worth. 
'*  My  little  children,  I  write  unto  you  that  ye 
love  one  another." 


CHAPTER  IV. 


AMONG   THE    CHILDREN. 


IIILDREN  should  be  constantly 
trained  to  love  Jesus  and  to  feel  His 
love.  Character  sets  early.  Life- 
long tendencies  are  indicated  in  the  first 
years.  In  his  autobiography  Darwin  says 
that  in  his  early  boyhood  he  had  a  passion 
for  collecting  all  sorts  of  things.  Shells, 
seals,  francs,  coins,  and  minerals  were  among 
the  objects  he  gathered.  We  have  now  fewer 
juvenile  prodigies  than  formerly;  but  on  the 
whole,  character  is  fixed  at  an  earlier  age. 
The  boy  is  not  only  the  father  of  the  man; 
the  boy  is  the  man.  Evil  begins  to  train  its 
children  early  for  its  service.  A  boy  of  four- 
teen was  lately  hanged  in  Texas  for  murder. 
A  lad  whom  I  knew  was  accused  of  an  infa- 
mous crime.    When  his  mother  was  told  of  it 


38  THE   WORKING   CHURCH. 

she  said,  "  Why,  it  is  not  possible !  Arthur  is 
only  a  little  baby."  Children  grow  old  in 
wickedness  before  they  reach  their  teens,  and 
while  their  mothers  think  they  are  as  inno- 
cent as  infants.  Heathendom  trains  its  chil- 
dren early.  As  soon  as  a  pagan  boy  is  strong 
enough  to  hold  a  flower  in  his  hand,  he  is 
taught  to  lay  that  flower  at  the  feet  of  an 
idol.  The  Roman  Catholic  Church  trains  its 
children  early.  Every  mother  entering  the 
church  with  her  baby  in  her  arms  puts  the 
holy  water  upon  the  baby's  forehead. 

From  the  earliest  years  children  should  be 
trained  to  love  Jesus  and  to  feel  His  love. 
Thomas  Chalmers  was  so  thoroughly  trained 
in  this  respect,  that  from  his  first  years  he  de- 
clared his  purpose  to  become  a  minister.  It 
is  told  that  Edward  Payson,  when  he  was  not 
more  than  three  years  old,  would  often  weep 
under  the  preaching  of  the  gospel,  and  would 
sometimes  call  his  mother  to  his  bedside  to 
talk  with  him  as  to  his  soul's  salvation.  Such 
an  experience  is  abnormal :  it  ought  to  be 
discouraged ;  it  is  neither  healthy  nor  health- 


AMONG   THE   CHILDREN.  39 

ful.  But  it  is  normal  for  the  boy  of  ten, 
like  Leonard  Woods,  —  the  first  Professor  of 
Theology  at  Andover,  where  he  continued 
for  a  quarter  of  a  century,  —  to  desire  to  be 
educated  for  Christian  service. 

Tertullian  made  a  remark  which  has  be- 
come famous  :  "  Man  is  naturally  Christian." 
In  one  respect  the  remark  is  false ;  in  another 
it  is  true.  The  remark  is  true,  in  that  the 
child  heart  loves  Jesus.  The  child  "  takes  to  " 
Christ.  The  story  of  Christ's  love  awakens 
the  child's  loyalty ;  and  the  story  of  Christ's 
death,  the  child's  indignation.  Next  to  the 
love  for  father  and  mother,  nay,  beyond,  be- 
neath, and  around  the  love  for  mother  and 
for  father,  the  child  from  the  first  should  be 
taught  to  love  Jesus.  There  should  be  no 
need  of  conversion  and  turning  about.  The 
curve  in  an  ascending  spiral,  not  a  right 
angle,  should  represent  the  Christian's  devel- 
opment. Children  should  never  know  the 
time  when  they  did  not  love  Jesus.  The 
saintly  Baxter  was  at  one  period  greatly 
troubled  because   he  could  not  recollect  the 


40  THE   WORKING   CHURCH. 

hour  when  there  was  a  gracious  change  in 
his  character;  but  at  last  he  discovered  that 
education  is  as  properly  the  means  of  grace 
as  preaching.  Thus  he  found  comfort  sweeter 
in  his  love  for  Christ,  because  he  could  not 
remember  the  time  when  he  did  not  love 
Him. 

A  distinguished  clergyman  now  living 
writes  in  charming  style  of  his  early  Chris- 
tian life.  Such  a  story  as  he  tells  should  be 
far  more  common  than  it  is  :  — 

*'  My  earliest  memory  is  a  religious  memory.  In 
my  home  the  entire  atmosphere  was  persistently 
religious.  I  learned  to  read  so  young  that  I  have 
no  recollection  whatever  of  the  process,  and  the 
daily  reading  of  the  Bible  was  as  much  a  part  of  my 
young  life  as  the  daily  breakfast.  With  sweet  and 
steady  pressure,  and  at  the  same  time  with  a  pres- 
sure wonderfully  wise,  my  mother  was  always  lead- 
ing, referring,  forcing  me  to  Jesus.  I  can  think  of 
no  time  when,  because  of  her  enwrapping  teaching, 
I  did  not  recognize  myself  a  sinner,  and  did  not,  in 
a  boyish  way  at  least,  look  to  Christ  as  Saviour. 
Her  steady  test  for  things  by  which  she  taught  me 
to  decide  concerning  this  or  that  was.   Would   it 


AMONG   THE   CHILDREN.  4 1 

please  Jesus  ?  When  I  had  done  wrong,  —  and  I 
did  wrong  by  no  means  infrequently,  —  though  I 
might  repent  toward  her  and  ask  her  forgiveness, 
I  was  always  taught  that  the  finishing  of  the  matter 
had  never  come  until  I  had  personally  sorrowed 
toward  and  asked  forgiveness  of  the  Lord.  So 
Christ  hung  as  a  sun  steadily  and  consciously  to 
myself  in  all  my  childish  horizon.  To  please  my 
parents  was  a  sweet  thing,  I  was  taught;  but  to 
please  Christ  and  my  parents  for  His  sake,  a 
sweeter  thing.  Yet  there  was  no  cant  in  all  this, 
nor  the  least  sanctimoniousness.  It  seemed  to  be 
all  as  natural  and  right  to  me  as  breathing.  So, 
really,  I  cannot  remember  the  time  when  I  did  not 
look  upon  the  Lord  Jesus  as  my  personal  Saviour, 
did  not  trust  Him,  did  not  recognize  and  accept 
it  as  the  task  of  life  to  serve  Him." 

The  proposition,  therefore,  is  evident  that 
children  should  be  constantly  trained  to  love 
Jesus  and  to  feel  His  love,  for  them. 

If  any  period  of  half  a  dozen  years  in  the 
life  of  a  child  be  more  critical,  religiously, 
than  any  other,  it  is  the  six  years  follow- 
ing the  age  of  ten.  At  this  age  the  boys 
and  girls  usually  are  graduated  from  the 
primary   department    of    the    Sunday-school 


42  THE   WORKING   CHURCH. 

into  its  intermediate  or  higher  department. 
If  they  have  received  proper  instruction, 
many  of  them  are  at  this  time  Christians. 
If  I  need  not  seek  evidence  beyond  my  own 
early  boyhood  to  prove  the  doctrine  of  total 
depravity,  I  also  need  not  seek  evidence 
beyond  the  limits  of  my  first  pastorate,  to 
prove  that  the  hearts  of  many  young  children 
are  inclined  to  accept  Jesus  as  their  guide, 
helper.  Saviour.  They,  at  an  early  age,  know- 
somewhat  of  the  evil  of  sin.  They  appreci- 
ate, even  more  than  many  who  are  their 
seniors,  the  tenderness  of  the  love  of  Christ. 
They  affirm  their  love  of  Jesus.  They  are 
willing  to  promise  to  try  to  be  and  to  do  as 
they  believe  He  desires.  Their  homes  and 
school-rooms  and  play-grounds  bear  witness 
to  the  reality  of  their  endeavor.  Their  wills 
are  moved,  their  intellects  are  also  enlight- 
ened, and  their  feelings  touched.  "  Except 
ye  become  as  little  children  : "  they  have 
no  need  of  becoming  ;  they  are  little  chil- 
dren. They  are  essential  Christians.  They 
have  not  an  ''experience"  such  as  their  elders 


AMONG   THE   CHILDREN.  43 

have.  They  ought  not  to  have  ;  they  can- 
not have  it.  But  they  are  able  to  endure 
the  test  which  our  Lord  appHed  to  Peter  at 
the  close  of  His  divine  mission,  "Lovest  thou 
me .''  "  They  are  in  kind  as  truly  Christians 
at  the  age  of  ten,  after  a  few  years  of  proper 
instruction,  as  they  are  at  the  age  of  seventy; 
as  the  child  who  is  studying  his  "  first 
reader"  is  as  really  reading  as  the  scholar 
who  is  perusing  Gibbon's  poUshed  and  well- 
rounded  sentences. 

But  with  children  thus  circumstanced  and 
-inclined  at  the  age  of  ten,  the  following 
four  or  five  years  work  tremendous  changes. 
They  have  fallen  from  grace.  They  have  be- 
come, if  not  hard  and  hardened,  indifferent 
and  careless.  Their  attention  to  Christian 
truth  is  not  easily  secured.  The  heart  is  not 
quite  so  soft  as  before.  They  reason,  inquire, 
in  a  way  doubt.  The  fact  is,  their  suscepti- 
bility to  spiritual  impressions  has  diminished. 
They  feel  the  downward  gravitation  of  the 
world,  the  flesh,  and  the  devil.  Their  love 
for  Christ  is  either  dying  or  dead. 


44  THE   WORKING   CHURCH. 

In  this  common  condition  the  problem 
which  the  church  has  set  before  it  is  this : 
to  keep  these  child-Christians  from  falling 
from  their  first  love  between  the  critical 
years  of  ten  and  sixteen ;  to  foster  the 
spirit  of  Christian  character;  to  strengthen 
the  weak  hope  ;  to  educate  and  discipline 
the  imperfect  faith.  For  the  solution  of 
this  serious  problem  we  may  look  for  aid 
to  the  Sunday-school  teacher.  If  he  is 
wise,  faithful,  earnest,  we  do  not  look  to 
him  in  vain.  But  in  too  many  instances  he 
fails  to  have  the  power  or  the  time  essential 
for  this  work.  It  is  a  surprise,  in  view  of 
the  lack  of  proper  method  in  the  choice 
of  teachers  in  the  Sunday-school,  that  the 
Sunday-school  accomplishes  so  great  results. 
As  now  constituted,  however,  the  Sunday- 
school  in  its  main  department  is  seldom  nur- 
turing to  a  natural  maturity  the  Christian 
character  which  is  born  before  the  child 
reaches  the   age  of  ten. 

In  this  failure,  what  can  be  done  .-*     I  write 
out  of  my  own  experience  when  I  say  that 


AA/OA'G   THE    CHILDREN.  45 

a  special  class  should  be  formed  of  those 
young  Christians,  and  that  special  instruc- 
tion and  guidance  should  be  given  them. 
This  instruction  and  guidance  should  be  com- 
mitted to  one  most  able  to  give  it.  This  one 
may  be  the  pastor,  or  it  may  not  be.  If  it  is 
not  he,  he  should  discover  some  other  person 
qualified  to  perform  this  duty.  I  think  I  may 
say  that  the  pastor  will  usually  find  that  it  is 
wise  to  intrust  this  labor  to  other  hands  ;  and 
yet  these  other  hands  he  may  think  it  well 
specially  to  train  for  this  important  service. 
This  instruction  should  consist  of  a  sys- 
tematic presentation  of  the  great  truths  of 
Christ.  It  should  be  systematic,  taking  up 
in  order  the  central  doctrines  and  themes 
of  the  Bible.  It  should  be,  it  must  be,  to  se- 
cure favorable  results,  attractive, —  attractive 
in  the  person  of  the  teacher  and  attractive 
in  its  methods.  It  should  be  thorough  ;  for 
children  will  receive  and  appreciate,  be  it 
properly  illustrated,  Christian  teaching  far 
more  profound  than  is  commonly  credited  to 
them.     Such   a  class   should    meet   on  some 


46  THE   WORKING   CHURCH. 

week-day,  after  the  close  of  the  exercises 
of  the  public  school,  and  should  be  held  each 
week  for  certain  periods  of  each  year. 

With  the  methods  and  the  results  of  such 
teaching,  I  am  already  somewhat  acquainted. 
Year  by  year  I  have  seen  a  class  of  boys 
and  girls  grow  from  a  membership  of  forty 
to  a  membership  of  three  hundred.  I  have 
seen  these  boys  and  girls  listening  intently 
to  the  presentation  of  the  historic  facts  and 
truths  of  the  Bible.  I  have  seen  this  class 
made  so  attractive  that  scores  of  children 
would  run  from  the  pubUc  school- room  to 
the  church  school-room  in  order  to  lose  no 
moment  of  the  short  hour.  I  have  seen 
this  interest  aroused  and  maintained  by  the 
power  of  a  strong  and  living  personality 
rather  than  by  extraneous  aids.  I  know  this 
teaching  to  be  systematic  and  thorough.  I 
have  seen  examination  papers  in  writing  of 
these  boys  and  girls  that  were  a  wonder  in 
their  revelation  of  the  appreciation  of  the  na- 
ture and  duties  of  the  Christian  life.  I  have 
been  made  glad  in  receiving  many  of  those 


AMONG   THE   CHILDREN.  47 

thus  trained  into  the  membership  of  the 
church,  and  have  daily  rejoiced  in  beholding 
the  good  confessions  they  witnessed  at  home 
and  school.  The  church  may  aid  in  such 
training  of  children  by  receiving  them  into 
its  membership.  I  know  of  no  help  so  great 
which  the  home  may  receive,  I  know  of  no 
help  so  great  which  the  child  may  receive 
beyond  the  walls  of  the  home,  as  the  help 
which  the  church  may  thus  give.  Such  a 
confession  in  the  church  of  Christ  brings  to 
the  surface  and  crystallizes  all  the  child's  love 
for  his  Saviour.  It  furnishes  him  with  a  high 
exterior  standard  of  conduct ;  it  puts  him  in 
that  direct  line  of  which  the  end,  as  is  also 
the  beginning,  is  life  eternal. 

The  Christian  child  needs  the  church  to 
make  his  Christian  love  vivid,  positive,  ag- 
gressive. The  Christian  parent  needs  the 
church  to  aid  in  the  Christian  training  of 
his  Christian  child.  The  church  needs  the 
Christian  child,  that  its  altars  may  never  lack 
for  Samuels,  as  its  ministering  priests.  If 
the  church  is  a  family,  it  must  specially  care 


48  THE   WORKING   CHURCH. 

for  its  children.  If  the  church  is  Christ's 
church,  it  must  specially  seek  to  bless  those 
whom  He  blessed.  If  the  church  is  ever  to 
rejoice  in  its  millennial  triumph,  it  will  in- 
clude children,  even  little  children,  among 
its  disciples  and  apostles. 

Various  objections  are  urged  to  children 
becoming  members  of  a  church.  These 
objections,  however,  are  in  large  measure 
founded  upon  misconceptions  of  the  need 
of  the  child  or  of  the  duty  of  the  church. 
One  of  the  more  common  of  these  objections 
is  that  the  child  does  not  fully  understand 
the  meaning  of  a  public  confession.  It  is  true 
that  a  child  does  not  fully  understand  this 
step  ;  but  who  of  us,  of  whatever  age,  does 
fully  understand?  Are  we  not  often  asking 
our  children  to  take  important  steps,  the 
meaning  of  which  is  not  fully  understood? 
How  much  does  a  child  need  to  understand 
to  join  the  church  ?  How  much  does  an 
adult  need  to  understand  ?  Has  the  reader 
fathomed  more  than  a  small  part  of  the  doc- 
trines of  the  creed  ?     Who  has  reached  final 


AMONG   THE   CHILDREN.  49 

conclusions  in  all  his  thinking  ?  Has  God's 
Word  ceased  to  break  forth  with  new  light  ? 
What  did  Philip  require  of  the  eunuch  as  a 
condition  of  baptism  ?  "  And  the  eunuch 
said,  See,  here  is  water ;  what  doth  hinder 
me  to  be  baptized  ?  and  Philip  saith,  If  thou 
believest  with  all  thine  heart,  thou  mayest. 
And  he  answered  and  said,  I  believe  that 
Jesus  Christ  is  the  Son  of  God."  Philip 
baptized  him. 

A  class  of  girls  in  the  church  was  re- 
cently asked  to  write  out  their  answers  to 
the  question,  "  What  is  it  to  be  a  Christian  1 " 
Among  the  answers  were  these  :  A  girl  of 
fifteen  said,  "  It  is  to  believe  that  the  Saviour 
is  able  to  save  us,  that  He  will  forgive  us  ; 
it  is  to  love  the  Saviour  and  try  to  do  His 
will."  A  girl  of  thirteen  replied,  "To  be  a 
Christian  is  to  love  and  serve  the  Lord,  and 
try  to  do  as  much  as  you  can,  and  live  as 
near  Him  as  you  can."  A  girl  also  of  thirteen 
said,  "  It  is  to  try  to  be  good  and  do  good, 
and  to  love  Jesus  Christ."  A  girl  of  fifteen 
answered,  '*  To  be  a  Christian  is  to  love  Jesus 

4 


50  THE   WORKING   CHURCH. 

Christ  with  your  whole  heart,  and  to  yield 
your  will  to  Him  completely."  One  of  thir- 
teen gave  this  answer,  which  is  remarkable 
as  a  philosophical  definition  of  what  it  is  to 
be  a  Christian  :  "  To  give  one's  whole  being 
to  the  will  of  God." 

It  is  not  to  be  said  that  children  do  not 
understand  more  of  wickedness  than  their 
parents  desire.  Children  do  understand  more 
of  goodness  and  more  of  Christian  truth 
than   their  parents  give  them  credit  for. 

It  is  also  urged  as  an  objection  to  children 
joining  the  church,  that  they  may  not  hold 
out.  A  little  girl  said  to  me  recently,  "  Why, 
if  I  join  the  church,  I  may  go  back."  "  Yes," 
I  replied,  *'  and  you  may  go  back  if  you 
don't  join  the  church ;  the  church  should  be 
a  help  to  keep  you  from  going  back."  Do  all 
those  who  are  not  children  hold  out  t  I  might 
select  fifty  boys  and  girls  from  the  Sunday- 
school  whom  I  thought  suitable  candidates 
for  church-membership ;  I  might  select  fifty 
men  and  women  from  the  congregation 
whom    I    thought    also   suitable    candidates. 


AMONG  THE   CHILDREN.  5  I 

After  five  years  I  am  confident  I  should  find 
a  larger  proportion  of  the  children  than  of 
the  adults  maintaining  their  Christian  faith. 

Two  or  three  principles  or  methods  under- 
lie the  Christian  character  and  the  church- 
membership  of  children.  One  is  that  the 
Christian  life  is  of  the  individual  charac- 
ter: being  of  the  individual  character,  it  is 
chiefly  concerned  with  the  feelings  and  the 
will :  in  children  the  feelings  are  strong  and 
the  will  easily  influenced  :  therefore,  without 
full  intellectual  apprehension,  the  Christian 
life  may  begin  in  children. 

The  second  principle  is  that  the  Christian 
life  is  a  growth,  not  a  manufactured  product ; 
a  flower,  not  a  machine:  therefore,  for  its 
purest  and  noblest  development,  it  must 
begin  early. 

It  is  also  evident  that  for  the  Christian 
life  of  children  parents  are  in  a  large  measure 
responsible.  The  method,  as  some  one  has 
said,  is  to  "  make  a  young  person  love  you, 
and  then  simply  being  in  his  presence  will 
make  him  what  you  want  him  to  be."     The 


52  THE   WORKING   CHURCH. 

*'  experience  "  of  the  child  so  far  as  he  is 
concerned  is  slight,  but  it  is  important 
so  far  as  the  mother  or  the  father  is  con- 
cerned. As  one  has  said,  writing  of  his 
mother  :  "  She  put  my  little  hand  in  the 
hand  of  the  Lord  Jesus.  I  did  not  know 
what  else  to  do,  and  so  I  clasped  His  hand, — 
that  was  all.  But  if  I  ever  stand  yonder  in 
the  great  shining,  about  the  sole  reason,  on 
the  human  side,  will  be —  my  mother,  God 
bless   her!"  • 


CHAPTER  V. 

AMONG    THE     YOUNG    PEOPLE. 

DEPARTMENT  of  the  administra- 
tion of  the  church  in  which  the 
pastor  finds  it  well  to  have  peculiar 
interest,  is  the  work  among  those  who  are 
universally  known  as  the  "young  people." 
The  "  young  people  "  have  within  a  genera- 
tion come  to  occupy  a  most  important  place 
in  the  church.  To  work  among  them  for 
their  conversion  and  edification,  to  work  for 
them  fitting  them  for  Christian  service,  and  to 
work  through  them  in  the  manifold  endeavor 
of  the  church,  no  one  is  better  qualified  than 
the  pastor.  The  systematic  organization  of 
this  body  for  work  in  the  church  is  to  be 
greatly  desired.  These  young  men  and 
women  usually  lend  themselves  ^more  easily 
than  their  elders  to  organization  and  to  organ- 


54  THE   WORKING   CHURCH. 

ized  effort.  Many  of  them  desire  Christian 
work.  They  have  fewer  prejudices  and  less 
individuality.  They  are  not  heavily  laden 
with  the  cares  of  business  or  of  home.  They 
are  less  conservative,  more  progressive.  They 
also  need  the  Christian  training  of  systematic 
planning  for,  and  systematic  doing  of,  service. 
For  the  good  of  the  church  as  well  as  their 
own  good,  this  organization  is  to  be  fostered. 
Many  a  pastor  finds  that  the  most  prompt, 
the  most  thorough,  the  most  earnest,  the 
most  persistent,  and  the  most  satisfactory 
work  of  his  church  is  done  through  the  young 
people.  They  are  his  aids  quite  as  truly  as 
the  members  of  the  church  committee. 

This  general  movement  among  and  for 
young  people  has  taken  positive  shape  in  the 
Young  People's  Society  of  Christian  En- 
deavor. Its  great  growth  justifies  its  wisdom 
of  administration,  as  well  as  proves  its  need. 
In  seven  years  it  has  increased  to  include 
more  than  five  thousand  organizations,  em- 
bracing some  two  hundred  and  fifty  thousand 
members.     It  is  simply  the  young  people  of 


AMONG    THE    YOUNG  PEOPLE.  55 

the  individual  church  associated  for  the  pur- 
pose of  promoting  their  Christian  growth  and 
of  bringing  those  not  Christians  to  Christ. 
Its  methods  are  simple.  Frequent  testimony 
in  the  weekly  meeting  is  emphasized.  At- 
tendance at  this  service  is  obligatory.  Social, 
literary,  and  musical  interests  are  grouped 
about  the  central  principles  of  Christian 
growth  and  Christian  service.  Committees  on 
various  departments  —  such  as  the  Sunday- 
school,  the  visiting  of  the  sick  and  the  crirni- 
nal,  the  introduction  of  strangers,  the  care  for 
the  prayer-meetings  —  are  selected.  A  full 
corps  of  the  other  customary  officers  forms  a 
part  of  the  society.  Membership  is  of  two 
classes,  —  the  active,  embracing  those  who 
believe  themselves  to  be  Christians ;  and  the 
associate,  including  those  who  may  wish  to 
enjoy  certain  privileges  of  the  Society  but  are 
not  prepared  to  be  known  as  Christians. 

So  familiar  are  the  general  principles  and 
methods  of  this  movement,  that  it  is  unneces- 
sary for  me  to  say  more  in  exposition.  But  it 
may  be  fitting  to  add  that  in  every  church  in 


56  THE   WORKING  CHURCH. 

which  the  Society  of  Christian  Endeavor  has 
been  established,  it  has  proved  to  be  the 
most  satisfactory  way  for  organizing  its 
young  people  for  Christian  work.  In  not  a 
few  churches  it  has  given  birth  to  a  prayer- 
meeting  for  young  people  ;  in  others  it  has 
quadrupled  the  attendance  and  increased  the 
interest  of  this  meeting ;  in  others  it  has 
proved  to  be  the  most  laborious  and  the  most 
effective  of  all  the  means  and  methods  of 
church  administration.  In  churches  in  which 
this  general  form  of  work  among  the  young 
people  is  well  planned  and  executed,  it  may 
or  may  not  be  wise  at  once  to  transfer  a 
prosperous  young  people's  organization  into 
a  society  of  this  distinctive  name  ;  but  it  is 
certainly  true  that  God  has  not  in  this  gen- 
eration in  America  given  a  wiser  method  for 
the  doing  of  Christian  work  for  and  through 
young  people.  Every  church  which  is  not 
thus  organized  among  its  younger  members 
is  neither  availing  itself  of  its  strength  nor 
entering  into  its  waiting  opportunities. 
For  the  Young  People's  Society  of  Chris- 


AMONG    THE   YOUNG  PEOPLE.  57 

tian  Endeavor,  or  any  organization  of  young 
people,  is  not  an  association  outside  of  the 
church.  Undoubtedly  any  such  alliance  may 
be  so  formed  or  conducted  as  to  give  the 
impression  of  either  rivalry  or  antagonism  to 
the  church.  But  it  ought  never  to  be  so 
formed  or  conducted.  It  is  simply  the  church 
at  work  among,  and  for,  and  through  its 
younger  members.  It  is  not  to  be  doubted 
that  this  peril  exists.  It  is  the  peril  of  clique 
and  faction.  It  is  a  peril  which  may  result 
in  direct  opposition  to  the  church.  The 
younger  members,  feeling  that  the  older  have 
little  interest  in  their  work,  go  by  them- 
selves ;  the  older  members,  thinking  that 
their  juniors  prefer  to  be  by  themselves,  do 
not  frequent  their  devotional  or  social  meet- 
ings. Such  a  division  is  lamentable.  It 
should  always  be  avoided;  it  should,  when 
existing,  be  healed.  The  younger  members 
should  know  that  the  church  is  more  than 
their  society,  and  that  of  the  church  their 
society  is  a  part  or  function.  The  older 
members,  by  sympathy  most  cordial  and  by 


58  THE    WORKING   CHURCH. 

endeavors  for  co-operative  service,  should 
prove  that  they  rejoice  in  the  activity  and 
aggressiveness  of  their  junior  brethren. 

In  the  organization  of  young  people  for 
church  work,  the  religious  basis  must  invari- 
ably be  strongly  maintained.  No  foundation, 
social,  literary,  musical,  aesthetic,  is  either 
worthy  or  enduring.  The  young  people 
themselves  will  accept  of  a  constitution  and 
method  which  are  .profoundly  religious.  Many 
of  them  even  demand  that  a  pre-eminently 
Christian  character  prevail  in  all  their  or- 
ganized efforts.  There  is  no  need  of  hiding 
the  Dover's  powder  of  Christian  service  in 
the  raspberry  jam  of  "  socials"  or  debates. 
Many  of  them  find  that  Christian  service  is 
not  a  bitter  thing,  but  very  sweetness  itself. 
Therefore  let  the  centre  and  circumference 
of  all  organizing  and  of  every  organization 
be  devoutly  Christian ;  and  on  the  radius 
may  be  put  whatever  of  social  enjoyment  and 
of  literary  culture  may  seem  fitting. 

The  church  is  a  spiritual  institution.  Its 
means  and  methods,  therefore,  are  determined 


AMONG    THE    YOUNG  PEOPLE.  59 

by  its  character  as  a  spiritual  institution. 
Yet,  though  spiritual,  it  should  be  free  to  use 
such  indirect  as  well  as  direct  agencies  as 
may  contribute  to  the  salvation  of  men  from 
sin.  Some  indirect  agencies  may  be  included 
in  the  work  of  young  people. 

Among  these  agencies  may  be  placed 
popular  amusements.  Shall  the  church  pro- 
vide amusements  for  its  young  people  ?  Shall 
it  countenance  and  nourish  amusements  which 
it  would  not  be  expedient  to  admit  into  any 
part  of  the  church  edifice  ?  Is  it  wise  for  it 
to  erect  a  building  in  which  games,  such  as 
for  example  billiards,  may  be  played  ?  The 
answer  to  these  and  allied  questions  depends 
upon  the  influence  of  these  diversions  upon 
the  moral  character  of  the  young  people.  It 
is  the  business  of  the  church  to  minister  to 
this  moral  character.  If  the  church  is  so 
placed  that  it  is  necessary  in  order  to  catch 
young  people  to  use  a  billiard  cue  as  a  fishing- 
rod,  no  hesitation  should  be  felt  in  employ- 
ing such  an  instrument.  Churches  situated 
down    town,    and    obliged     to    contend    with 


60  THE   WORKING   CHURCH. 

saloons  as  rallying-places  for  young  men,  may 
at  times  find  it  wise  to  use  these  measures. 
The  church  should  be  willing  to  adopt  any 
method  which  will  keep  the  young  people 
away  from  evil  associations.  If  it  cannot 
secure  the  whole  loaf  of  Christian  char- 
acter, let  it  secure  the  half-loaf  of  moral 
character  ;  if  it  cannot  secure  the  half-loaf, 
let  it  endeavor  to  secure  as  large  an  absti- 
nence from  evil  as  may  be  possible.  The 
churches  which  bear  the  name  of  "  People's 
Churches,"  and  are  attended  by  those  less 
well-to-do,  usually  can  minister  in  more  ways 
to  their  members  than  churches  composed  of 
the  wealthier  classes.  Such  churches  fre- 
quently find  it  advantageous  to  establish 
reading-rooms  and  parlors  for  the  use  of  their 
members.  Classes,  too,  for  the  instruction 
of  the  young  people  in  stenography,  needle- 
work, and  telegraphy  prove  of  much  worth. 
The  church  should  have  as  one  of  its  impor- 
tant aims  the  service  of  the  young  people  of 
the  church.  This  service  should  be  as  broad 
as  the  condition  of  the  church  and  the  need 


AMONG    THE   YOUNG  PEOPLE.  6 1 

of  the  people  allow.  But  in  all  service  thus 
broad  and  sufficient,  the  highest  aim  should 
control  the  development  of  Christian  man- 
hood and  womanhood. 

The  church  working  for  its  young  folks 
should  also  put  them  to  work.  The  older 
young  people  should  give  their  hands  and 
hearts  and  brains  to  philanthropic  efforts,  such 
as  the  distribution  of  books  and  newspapers 
in  hospitals  and  jails,  the  holding  of  services 
of  song  in  the  wards  of  hospitals,  the  estab- 
lishment and  carrying  on  of  Sunday-schools 
and  gospel  services  in  the  mission  stations  of 
cities  and  in  the  schoolhouses  in  the  country 
towns,  and  the  holding  of  temperance  meet- 
ings such  as  belong  to  the  Bands  of  Hope  for 
children.  In  all  these  and  similar  services 
the  young  people  of  the  church  may  be 
made  most  efficient  members  of  the  working 
church. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

AMONG    BUSINESS     MEN. 

VENTURE  to  recall  a  bit  of  per- 
sonal experience.  I  was  calling  on 
my  parishioners  who  do  business  in 
the  Chamber  of  Commerce.  Among  those  to 
whom  I  paid  my  respects  was  Mr.  A.  Mr.  A. 
is  still  under  forty;  he  is  reputed  to  have 
large  wealth,  and  to  be  making  large  additions 
to  it.  His  commercial  interests  are  various. 
His  mind  is  keen,  alert,  vigorous  ;  his  heart 
is  tender.  He  has  all  the  best  qualities  of  the 
best  business  man.  As  soon  as  I  entered  his 
office  I  saw  that  he  was  busy  ;  I  also  saw,  I 
was  assured,  that  he  was  glad  to  see  me. 
Presently  he  said,  "  You  do  not  know  how 
much  good  just  your  coming  to  see  us  does." 
I  ventured  to  suggest  that  his  sense  of  cour- 
tesy was  getting  the  better  of  his  sense  of 
truthfulness.    But  he  replied  :  "  No  ;  we  men 


AMONG  BUSINESS  MEN.  63 

are  from  morning  to  night  engaged  in  a  hard 
struggle.  I  know  that  every  man  who  enters 
that  doorway  comes  to  make  some  money  out 
of  me ;  and  every  man  who  enters  that  door- 
way I  intend  to  make  some  money  out  of. 
It  is  more  pleasant  than  I  can  tell  you  to  see 
a  man  who  you  feel  has  some  personal  care 
for  you,  to  see  a  man  who  looks  upon  you  as 
something  besides  a  mere  money-maker,  to 
see  a  man  who  represents  something  besides 
banks,  real-estate  syndicates,  and  elevator 
companies." 

The  earnestness  of  my  friend's  words  and 
my  knowledge  of  his  character  lead  me  to  be- 
lieve in  their  sincerity.  They  suggest  the 
need  of  a  Christian  mission  and  the  need  of 
special  spiritual  endeavor  for  business  men. 
The  working  church  has  been  doing  much  for 
various  classes,  —  for  the  children,  for  the 
young  men,  for  the  young  women,  for  the  out- 
cast and  wandering  of  every  sort.  It  has 
not,  however,  made  a  solemn  and  aggressive 
attempt  to  reach  the  business  men  of  middle 
age  and  of  absorbing  interests.     The  fact  is. 


64  THE   WORKING   CHURCH. 

these  men  are  in  greater  need  of  the  help  of 
the  church  than  any  other  class  in  the  com- 
munity. They  are  in  peril  of  the  most  prac- 
tical and  personal  materialism.  They  are  ab- 
sorbed in  business.  Their  business  demands 
the  best  energies  of  brain,  heart,  body.  They 
are  laboring  for  the  visible  and  the  tangible. 
The  unseen  and  the  eternal  are  not  naturally 
and  immediately  present.  Wealth  flows  in 
upon  them  ;  and  they  are  in  danger  of  either 
that  avarice  or  that  unwise  prodigaHty  which 
increasing  riches  may  develop.  Wealth  flies 
from  them  ;  and  they  are  in  danger  of  either 
that  hard  and  rebellious  or  that  despairing 
mood  which  misfortune  may  create.  The 
constant  attrition  with  human  life  may  wear 
them  into  cold  and  polished  hardness  of  char- 
acter. The  knowledge  of  cunning  rascali- 
ties may  make  them  pessimists.  They  began 
business,  intending  to  be  masters  of  business  ; 
they  retire  from  business  as  its  slaves.  They 
are  inclined  to  know  nothing,  to  do  nothing, 
but  business.  The  commercial  success  which 
at  first  they  regarded  as  a  means  to  some 


AMONG  BUSINESS  MEN.  65 

noble  purpose,  they  have  come  to  consider 
as  an  ultimate  aim  in  itself. 

Such  is  the  condition  of  thousands  of  men 
in  the  offices  and  stores  of  the  cities.  What 
can  the  church  do  for  them  ?  They  are  not 
remote  from,  or  alien  to,  the  church.  Not  a 
few  are  members  of  the  church ;  many  occu- 
py their  pews,  with  their  families,  on  the  Sab- 
bath. They  are  not  specially  troubled  with 
difficulties  as  to  doctrine.  They  believe  the 
Bible,  respect  the  church,  and  keep  the  Sab- 
bath. In  answer  to  the  question  of  the  duty 
of  the  church,  I  say  :  — 

The  church  should  not  denounce  money  or 
money-making.  The  church  should  rejoice 
in  all  the  money  which  its  members  either 
have  or  gain.  The  church  wants  money, 
must  have  it.  The  great  need  of  the  church 
is  men  who  will  make  money  for  its  mission- 
ary work.  The  church  and  the  ministry 
should  discriminate,  as  did  Christ  and  Paul, 
between  money  and  the  love  of  money,  be- 
tween riches  and  the  trust  in  riches.  It  is 
not  money,  but  the  love  of  money,  which  is 


66  THE   WORKING   CHURCH. 

the  root  of  all  evil;  it  is  not  the  riches,  but 
the  trust  in  them,  which  keeps  us  from  enter- 
ing heaven.  Let  the  minister  pray  that  his 
parishioners  may  make  money;  let  him  also 
pray  that  they  may  be  kept  from  the  love  of 
money. 

It  is  also  evident  that  neither  the  church 
nor  the  ministry  can  serve  business  men  by 
courses  of  sermons  or  addresses  upon  methods 
of  business.  The  counting-room  can  teach 
the  pulpit  far  better  upon  this  theme  than  the 
pulpit  the  counting-room.  Sermons  on  spec- 
ulation—  speculation  in  stocks  or  wheat  or 
pork,  speculations  of  any  kind  —  are  as  valua- 
ble, and  only  as  valuable,  as  Saint  Anthony's 
sermon  to  the  fishes.  In  many  cases,  too, 
they  are  contrary  to  that  wise  remark  which 
Dr.  Bellamy  used  to  make  to  his  students  as 
to  preaching  :  "  Don't  raise  the  Devil,  young 
gentlemen,  unless  you  can  lay  him."  Many 
ministers  cannot  lay  the  devils  which  their 
sermons  on  speculation  are  liable  to  raise. 

Turning  to  the  positive  side,  I  venture  to 
suggest  three  methods  that  may  he  of  worth  : 


AMONG  BUSINESS  MEN.  6/ 

Spiritual  preaching.  The  most  worldly 
man  prefers  spiritual  preaching  to  worldly 
preaching.  The  merchant  absorbed  in  busi- 
ness is  sick  at  heart  Sunday  morning  when 
his  business,  to  which  he  thought  he  bade 
good-by  at  five  o'clock  the  night  before,  again 
appeals  to  his  ears  in  his  pastor's  sermon. 
He  may  rightfully  claim  in  such  an  instance 
that  his  minister  is  robbing  him  of  a  part  of 
his  Sabbath  rest.  Ministers  labor  under  a 
lamentable  error  when  they  think  that  college 
professors  of  natural  history  or  of  geology  or 
of  political  economy  want  to  hear  sermons  on 
Darwinism,  or  on  the  consistency  of  Evolution 
with  the  first  chapters  of  Genesis,  or  on  anar- 
chism. The  error  is  no  less  lamentable  when 
ministers  think  that  manufacturers  and  mer- 
chants, bankers  and  lawyers,  want  to  be 
preached  to  as  manufacturers  and  as  mer- 
chants, as  bankers  and  as  lawyers.  They 
want  to  be  treated  as  men,  —  as  men  who 
have  souls,  as  men  who  are  tempted,  as  men 
who  want  all  the  help  possible  to  resist  temp- 
tation and  to  win  noblest  characters. 


6S  THE   WORKING  CHURCH. 

Preaching,  therefore,  being  spiritual,  should 
follow  the  fundamental  lines  of  thought,  doc- 
trine, teaching.  It  should  embrace  the  great 
themes  :  sin  in  all  forms  —  the  self-deception 
of  the  sinner,  its  self-perpetuating  power,  the 
moral  disintegration  of  the  soul — in  which 
it  has  special  allurement  or  power  over  the 
business  man  ;  God  in  all  those  qualities 
and  elements  in  which  He  is  made  known  ; 
human  responsibility,  for  one's  self  and  for 
one's  fellows.  But  I  know  whereof  I  speak 
when  I  affirm  that  the  more  closely  the  min- 
ister can  centre  his  preaching  in  Christ,  the 
more  thoroughly  he  will  please  the  un-Chris- 
tian  as  well  as  the  Christian  business  men  of 
his  congregation.  No  other  theme  has  such 
power  ;  no  other  theme  has  such  variety  ;  no 
other  theme  has  sources  of  such  satisfaction. 
A  great  court  preacher,  preaching  before  the 
Queen  of  England,  chose  as  his  subject  : 
"  Religion  in  common  life."  The  sermon  be- 
came  a  favorite  of  Queen  Victoria.  Let  the 
minister  of  the  most  worldly  congregation  se- 
lect the  most  spiritual  of  subjects,  —  Christ 


AMONG  BUSINESS  MEN  69 

himself,  —  and  he  will  not  only  do  the  most 
good,  but  also  give  the  greatest  satisfaction. 

I  would  also  beg  to  suggest  that  ministers 
should  not  fail  to  come  into  the  closest  per- 
sonal relationship  with  the  business  men  to 
whom  they  preach.  It  were  well  if  ministers 
were  even  more  anxious  to  call  on  the  men  of 
their  churches  at  their  places  of  business  than 
on  the  women  in  their  homes.  If  a  minister 
is  at  all  worthy  of  being  known,  the  bank  pres- 
idents and  the  plumbers,  the  lawyers  and  the 
carpenters,  want  to  know  him.  The  pastor 
should  get  down  close  to  the  hearts  of  the 
rich  as.  well  as  of  the  poor  men  of  his  church. 
Not  in  gushing,  not  in  the  manner  of  the 
cloth,  not  in  either  fawning  or  patronage,  but 
in  simple  and  true  manliness,  let  him  know, 
and  be  known  by,  the  busy  business  men. 
Let  the  men  know  his  life  as  well  as  hear  his 
truth. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

FROM   THE    BUSINESS    POINT   OF    VIEW. 

CHURCH  is  not  a  business  concern, 
though  in  certain  ways  it  is  to  be 
managed  on  business  principles.  It 
is  not  a  business  concern,  for  its  purpose  is 
not  to  see  how  it  can  get  the  most  money  or 
hire  the  cheapest  help.  Its  purpose  is  not  to 
save  money  or  to  secure  the  largest  surplus. 
Its  purpose  is  not  to  make  its  income  equal 
to  its  expenses.  The  pecuniary  motives  of 
the  business  concern  have  no  place  as  aims 
in  the  church.  For  the  church  is  a  spiritual 
institution.  Its  purpose  is  moral,  ethical. 
Christian.  Its  purpose  is  to  continue  the 
work  begun  by  Christ,  to  turn  men  from  sin  to 
righteousness.  Its  purpose  relates  to  human 
character.  And  yet  the  church  has  a  financial 
side.     Though  it  is  not  a. business  institution. 


THE  BUSINESS  POINT  OF  VIEW.         J I 

it  is  in  certain  respects  to  be  managed  in  a 
business  way.  Though  its  purpose  is  not  to 
make  income  equal  expense,  yet  in  every 
church  income  should  equal  expense.  The 
general  principles  of  economy,  efficiency,  and 
honesty  prevailing  in  successful  business 
should  prevail  in  the  management  of  the 
church.  In  securing  such  principles,  it  seems 
wise  for  Christian  business  men  to  be  the 
leaders  in  its  financial  interests.  With  their 
Christianity,  they  will  manage  affairs  as  if 
the  church  were  a  church;  with  their  mer- 
cantile methods,  they  will  make  the  manage- 
ment economical  and  efficient. 

It  is  not  wise  usually,  it  seems  to  me,  for 
ministers  to  take  an  active  interest  in  the 
pecuniary  affairs  of  their  churches.  In  some 
cases  it  seems  necessary  for  ministers  to  have 
an  important  part  in  this  work.  In  many 
small  churches  the  deacons  and  elders  leave 
the  pecuniary  affairs  of  the  church,  as  they 
do  the  spiritual,  to  the  pastor.  They  ought 
not  so  to  be  remiss  in  their  duty  ;  the  min- 
ister ought   to   cause   them   to   take   up   this 


"JZ  THE   WORKING   CHURCH. 

task  belonging  to  them,  and  the  doing  of  it 
would  be  found  to  be  a  means  of  grace.  But 
in  many  large  churches,  of  course,  the  min- 
ister not  only  has  no  need  of  being  especially 
concerned  in  these  financial  matters,  but  also 
he  ought  not  to  be  so  concerned.  Men  are 
in  the  church  with  greater  ability  than  his  for 
such  administration.  A  former  pastor  of  one 
of  the  principal  churches  in  New  York  City 
said  to  me  that  about  one  half  of  his  time 
was  taken  up  with  the  pecuniary  affairs  of 
the  parish.  His  ministry  was  not  successful, 
and  it  is  not  a  surprise  that  it  was  a  failure. 
Time  and  strength  devoted  to  financial  admin- 
istration were  time  and  strength  subtracted 
from  spiritual  efficiency. 

The  minister,  though  having  no  active  part 
in  the  financial  management  of  his  parish, 
should  yet  be  deeply  interested  in  that  man- 
agement ;  for  the  success  or  failure  of  his 
ministry  may  in  a  large  degree  be  dependent 
upon  the  success  or  failure  of  the  financial 
execution.  He  should  also  look  upon  the 
failure  or  success  of  the  financial  management 


THE  BUSINESS  POINT  OF  VIEW,         73 

of  the  church  as  a  symptom  of  the  interest 
or  lack  of  interest  in  his  work.  It  is  to  be 
said,  however,  that  even  business  men  do  not 
employ  in  the  management  of  their  churches 
the  same  wisdom  which  they  employ  in  the 
management  of  their  own  mercantile  inter- 
ests. A  prominent  church  in  a  university 
town,  in  its  love  for  its  departing  pastors, 
borrowed  upon  one  occasion  five  thousand 
dollars  and  upon  another  occasion  ten  thou- 
sand dollars  as  a  farewell  gift.  It  is  not 
wise  to  put  a  mortgage  upon  your  principal 
property  for  the  sake  of  making  a  large 
present  to  a  friend.  A  church  in  New  York 
City  some  years  ago,  out  of  love  also  for  its 
pastor,  presented  him  with  a  sum  of  money  to 
meet  the  expenses  of  a  trip  to  Europe.  This 
sum  was  not  the  result  of  gifts,  biit  was 
raised  through  a  mortgage  upon  the  church 
edifice.  Certainly  such  methods  are  not  the 
methods  that  men  employ  in  business.  The 
church  has  its  financial  side,  and  its  financial 
interests  should  be  administered  with  effi- 
ciency, economy,  and   honesty;   and   it  will 


74  THE   WORKING   CHURCH. 

usually  be  found  that  the  business  men  in  a 
church  are  the  best  fitted  thus  to  administer. 

It  is  frequently  said  that  churches  are  too 
expensive  ;  that  the  cost  of  being  a  member 
of  a  respectable  church  is  so  great  that  many 
respectable  people  are  kept  from  affiliating 
themselves  with  such  a  congregation.  It  is 
complained  that  pew  rentals  are  too  high;  or 
if  the  pew  rentals  are  not  too  high,  that  the 
demands  for  missions  and  missionary  work 
are  too  frequent  and  too  heavy.  In  some 
churches  a  basis  for  the  charge  may  exist. 
But  the  reason  of  the  complaint  lies  quite 
as  much  in  the  fault  of  the  one  complain- 
ing as  in  the  churches  themselves.  In  all 
churches  are  pews  of  which  the  rental  is  so 
cheap  that  no  person  earning  ordinary  wages 
should  hesitate  to  hire  them.  The  rental  of 
a  single  pew  in  some  churches  for  a  year 
amounts  to  several  hundred  dollars.  But  such 
pews  are  very  few,  and  are  taken  by  those 
who  are  presumed  to  be  able  to  pay  the  thou- 
sands. But  even  in  such  churches  the  ma- 
jority  of   the  pews   can  be  had  for  a  few 


THE  BUSINESS  POINT  OF  VIEW.         75 

score  of  dollars  ;  and  a  large  number  of  them 
can  be  had  so  cheap  that  a  single  sitting  costs 
its  occupant  only  a  few  cents  each  week. 

The  charge  of  the  too  great  expensiveness 
of  churches  is  of  course  to  be  viewed  in  rela- 
tion to  what  one  receives  for  the  expense. 
One  receives  from  this  financial  relation  to 
his  church  more  than  first  thought  might 
suggest.  He  receives  the  right  to  his  sitting 
for  two  services  each  Sabbath.  He  also  has 
a  special  right  to  all  the  meetings  of  the 
church  of  prayer,  of  social  intercourse,  of 
musical  and  literary  culture.  In  relation  to 
what  he  receives,  the  cost  is  very  small. 

The  chief  element  in  the  cost  of  the  admin- 
istration of  churches  is,  of  course,  the  salary 
of  the  pastor.  The  salaries  of  a  few  pastors 
in  this  country  are  large,  but  of  only  a  few. 
The  number  even  of  pastors  having  more 
than  four  thousand  dollars  each  year  is  not 
large.  In  one  sense  a  minister  should  re- 
ceive exactly  what  he  earns;  his  wages  should 
be  determined  by  those  same  laws  of  political 
economy  that  determine   the  wages   of   any 


'je  THE   WORKING  CHURCH. 

wage-earner.  In  another  sense  he  cannot 
receive  too  much.  What  does  the  minister 
give  to  his  church }  He  does  not  give  his 
brain  merely,  he  does  not  give  his  physical 
strength  only,  —  gifts  which  most  men  bring 
to  their  work  ;  but  he  also  gives  his  heart, 
himself,  his  all.  The  relation  between  a 
minister  and  his  church  is  more  akin  to  that 
between  a  husband  and  wife  than  to  the  re- 
lation between  employee  and  employer.  A 
church,  therefore,  in  one  sense  should  not 
look  upon  their  minister  as  a  hired  servant, 
but  as  one  to  whom,  in  return  for  his  great 
gifts  to  them,  they  are  to  give  all  that  he  is 
able  to  receive.  I  take  it  that  this  is  the 
relation  existing  between  Mr.  Spurgeon  and 
the  church  of  which  he  is  pastor.  A  promi- 
nent officer  of  that  church  told  me  that  Mr. 
Spurgeon  was  usually  supposed  to  receive 
five  thousand  dollars  a  year,  but  that  he  drew 
whatever  he  wished.  The  church  trusted 
him,  and  he  trusted  the  church.  With  cer- 
tain ministers  this  would  not  be  possible ;  for, 
as  was  remarked  of  a  prominent  minister  in 


THE  BUSINESS  POINT  OF  VIEW.         yy 

an  American  city,  "  he  would,"  said  the 
treasurer  of  this  church,  "break  the  Bank 
of  England." 

But  the  charge  of  expensiveness  of  the 
churches  is  not  based  simply  upon  the  paro- 
chial item,  but  also  upon  the  demands  for 
what  is  usually  termed  benevolence.  The 
contribution  box  is  looked  upon  as  the  sym- 
bol of  this  exhausting  process.  The  notice 
from  the  pulpit  for  the  collection  is  regarded 
as  a  thief  regards  arrest.  In  this  same  line 
of  expensiveness,  also,  the  pastor  is  supposed 
to  be,  through  his  personal  endeavors,  an  es- 
pecial factor.  With  the  subscription  paper  in 
hand  he  goes  to  individuals  in  office  and 
home,  asking  for  money  either  for  building  a 
new  chapel  in  the  city,  or  to  endow  a  college 
in  Dakota,  or  to  raise  a  testimonial  fund  for 
a  retiring  deacon,  or  to  increase  the  annual 
offering  for  the  cause  of  foreign  oe  home 
missions. 

Of  such  endeavors  for  benevolence,  it  seems 
to  me  that  many  people  have  a  false  and 
wrong  idea.     As  a  rule,  people  are  not  to  be 


yS  THE   WORKING  CHURCH. 

urged  to  give.  As  a  rule,  people  do  desire 
information  as  to  Christian  work.  They  are 
willing  that  such  opportunities  of  Christian 
service  should  be  pointed  out  to  them  ;  and 
when  such  information  has  been  given  and 
such  opportunities  have  been  pointed  out,  the 
time  has  come  for  their  action.  The  minister 
has  done  his  whole  duty  in  giving  the  infor- 
mation, in  indicating  the  opportunity.  The 
subsequent  action  belongs  to  his  people  ;  and 
their  do!ng,  or  failing  to  do,  their  duty  is  a 
question  for  themselves  as  servants  of  the 
Most  High.  People  should  constantly  have 
placed  before  them  opportunities  for  Chris- 
tian giving  and  for  Christian  service.  Such 
opportunities  it  would  be  difficult  to  present 
too  frequently.  But  the  minister  should  re- 
frain from  either  speaking  or  acting  in  such 
a  way  as  to  give  the  impression  of  undue 
urgency.  It  also  seems  to  me  that  it  is  well 
for  a  minister  to  refrain  from  soliciting  per- 
sonally contributions  for  Christian  work.  The 
temptations  to  such  solicitation  are  frequently 
very  strong.     Some  pastors  have  much  sue- 


THE  BUSINESS  POINT  OF  VIEW.         79 

cess  in  such  endeavors.  A  prominent  min- 
ister of  the  Presbyterian  Church  himself 
raises  the  debt  which  afflicts  the  parish,  or 
secures  the  money  for  a  new  organ.  But,  on 
the  whole,  it  would  be  wiser  for  him  to  have  a 
great  interest  in  any  such  attempt,  —  to  be,  if 
one  chooses,  the  heart  of  it,  or  even  the  heart 
and  the  brain  of  it,  but  not  either  the  hands 
or  the  feet.  Serving  thus  personally,  he  is  in 
peril  of  lessening  his  spiritual  influence  over 
the  character  of  his  parishioners,  for  the  sake 
of  a  financial  gain.  Such  a  peril  he  should 
never  be  willing  to  run.  To  his  pastor  a  pa- 
rishioner may  not  infrequently  be  inclined  to 
give  a  larger  subscription  than  he  feels  he 
ought.  Such  a  subscription  is  far  from  being 
a  means  of  grace  to  the  subscriber.  In  gen- 
eral, more  money  will  be  given  by  a  church 
for  benevolent  work  if  the  pastor  does  not 
take  a  personal  concern  in  its  solicitation. 

In  the  business  management  of  the  church, 
as  in  business  management  of  every  sort, 
great  advantage  is  to  be  found  in  frequent 
and  frank  conference  of  officers  and  pastor. 


80  THE  WORKING  CHURCH. 

If  the  pastor  is  inclined  to  emphasize  too 
strongly  the  pecuniary  side  of  his  work,  the 
officers  should  very  plainly  tell  him  his  mis- 
take, and  he  should  be  willing  to  bear  the  crit- 
icism and  correct  the  fault.  If  the  pastor  sees 
in  the  church  elements  or  conditions  which 
he  believes  are  antagonistic  to  its  spiritual 
or  other  interests,  he  likewise  should  be  very 
free  to  communicate  his  impressions  to  the 
officers  ;  and  they  also  should  bear  with 
Christian  charity  the  criticism,  and  endeavor 
to  remedy  the  fault  thus  indicated.  Church 
quarrels  usually  begin  in  a  lack  of  free  fra- 
ternal communication  between  the  officers. 
Such  communication  should  be  very  full  and 
broad  and  intimate.  It  is  thus  that  estrange- 
ments are  avoided  ;  and  with  the  avoidance  of 
estrangements,  ecclesiastical  quarrels  would 
also  be  prevented. 

In  the  business  management  of  a  church, 
as  well  as  in  management  of  other  kinds,  it 
is  important  for  the  pastor  so  to  bear  himself 
towards  his  parishioners  that  he  will  appeal 
to  their  highest   needs.      He   will    approach 


THE  BUSINESS  POINT  OF  VIEW.         8  I 

them  upon  the  highest  planes  of  conduct  and 
character.  He  will  not  allow  himself  to  give 
the  impression  that  he  desires  to  make 
money  out  of  them,  or  that  his  purpose  in 
being  pastor  of  a  church  is  pecuniary.  He 
will  give  the  impression  that  he  comes  seek- 
ing, not  theirs,  but  them.  In  this  approach 
to  men  in  their  highest  needs,  he  will  be 
frank  and  hearty.  As  he  will  not  suffer  his 
parishioners  to  lose  respect  for  him,  so  also 
he  will  not  suffer  himself  to  lose  his  self- 
respect.  He  will  approach  the  members  of 
his  church  as  a  Christian  man  having  the 
highest  aim,  —  to  serve  in  the  noblest  ways 
those  whose  spiritual  nurture  is  in  no  small 
degree  committed  to  his  keeping. 

In  this  endeavor  to  foster  the  interests  of 
his  church,  he  will,  above  all  else,  love  its 
members.  Love  is  the  universal  solvent.  If 
the  minister  fails  to  love,  he  should  cease  to 
be  a  minister.  If  he  loves  his  church,  his 
church  will  love  him  ;  if  he  fails  to  love  his 
church,  his  church  also  will  fail  to  love  him. 
His  church  is  usually  worthy  of  his  love.  If 
6 


82  THE    WORKING   CHURCH. 

he  love  it,  he  can,  it  may  be  said,  persuade  it, 
as  a  church,  to  almost  any  line  of  ecclesiasti- 
cal conduct.  The  history  of  churches  shows 
that  the  churches  in  which  the  pastorates 
are  long  and  successful  are  those  in  which 
the  pastor  has  loved  his  church  with  a  fulness 
of  affection  next  to  the  love  for  wife  and  for 
child  ;  and  the  churches  in  which  the  pastor- 
ates have  been  short  and  have  not  succeeded, 
are  those  in  which  the  pastor  has  not  loved 
his  church. 

In  the  spirit  of  love,  the  pastor  will 'be 
saved  from  the  not  uncommon  fault  of  antag- 
onizing the  members  of  the  church  and  the 
church  itself.  It  is  never  wise  to  antagonize 
in  church  life.  If  a  fundamental  principle 
is  under  discussion,  the  minister  must  of 
course  make  known  his  opinion,  and  make 
his  opinion  impressive  by  wise  means  ;  but 
he  should  never  suffer  himself  to  be  led  into 
an  antagonistic  mood  over  matters  of  trifling 
importance.  Some  ministers  seem  to  have  a 
peculiar  facility  for  catching  upon  some  snag 
in  the  current  of  ecclesiastical  life,  and  there 


THE  BUSINESS  POINT  OF  VIEW.         %2> 

resting.  The  snag,  to  be  sure,  is  small,  but  it 
holds  them  just  as  firmly  from  all  advance 
in  Christian  service  as  if  they  were  ashore. 
If  a  minister  is  to  antagonize  his  church,  let 
there  be  chosen  a  point  worthy  of  antag- 
onism. If  there  is  to  be  a  church  *'  quarrel," 
let  the  "  quarrel "  be  over  some  important 
point  that  is  worthy  of  a  battle.  And  as  a 
rule,  the  minister  is  to  bear  himself  above  all 
parties ;  he  is  to  mind  his  own  business, 
which  means  that  he  is  to  do  his  own  work 
and  to  do  it  well,  and  also  not  to  meddle  in 
the  work  of  others. 

Such  a  position,  free  from  antagonism,  may 
be  gained  by  a  right  intellectual  and  moral 
perspective  of  the  work  of  the  church.  In 
the  church  some  work,  some  methods,  some 
plans,  are  of  prime  importance ;  others  are  of 
secondary  or  third-rate  importance.  Let  not 
the  minister,  for  the  sake  of  adopting  meth- 
ods that  are  of  third-rate  importance,  suffer 
methods  that  are  of  secondary  importance  to 
fail.  Let  him  not,  for  the  sake  of  accomplish- 
ing work  of  secondary  worth,  allow  work  of 


84  THE   WORKING  CHURCH. 

first-rate  importance  to  suffer.  Let  his  view 
of  truth  be  broad  and  accurate,  adjusted  to 
the  real  conditions. 

Furthermore,  in  the  management  of  the 
church,  it  is  well  for  the  minister  to  work 
along  long  lines.  Let  him  ever  keep  his  end 
in  view.  Let  him  know  the  discipline  of 
patience.  Knowing  that  the  end  is  of  su- 
preme importance,  let  him  be  willing  to 
change  his  methods,  his  means,  his  measures. 
Let  the  principles  of  ministerial  service  be 
laid  broad,  deep,  and  firm.  Let  the  applica- 
tion of  these  principles  be  made  in  all  wisdom 
and  charity.  These  principles,  with  such  ap- 
plication, will  eventually  become  realized.  If, 
for  instance,  that  matter  which  at  times  dis- 
tresses every  minister  —  the  introduction  of 
a  better  hymn-book  into  the  Sabbath  services 
—  perplexes  him,  let  him  not  be  in  any  special 
hurry  to  change  it.  The  time  may  not  be 
ripe.  Many  people  do  not  want  it.  He  may 
give  himself  the  reasonable  assurance  that 
the  service  is  not  suffering  serious  loss  by 
reason  of  the  use  of  the  present  book.     Let 


THE  BUSINESS  POINT  OF  VIEW.         85 

him,  however,  lay  down  the  principle  that 
the  service  of  music  in  the  church  should 
be  of  the  most  elevated  character ;  in  due 
time  this  principle  will  become  so  prevalent 
among  the  people  that  they  themselves  will 
demand  a  change  in  the  hymn-book.  The 
adage,  "  A  place  for  everything  and  every- 
thing in  its  place,"  may  with  a  slight  change 
be  applied  to  time :  A  time  for  everything 
and  everything  in  its  time.  The  minister 
holding  the  supreme  purpose  of  his  ministry 
strongly,  will,  with  waiting  and  righteous  en- 
deavor, find  that  purpose  achieved. 

And  though  all  this  be  true,  he  should 
withal,  in  the  managing  of  the  interests  of 
his  parish,  be  a  man  of  convictions.  For  his 
own  sake  and  for  the  sake  of  his  church,  he 
should  have,  and  also  be  willing  to  manifest, 
the  courage  of  his  convictions ;  manifesting 
this  courage,  of  course,  with  all  courtesy,  and 
with  a  full  regard  for  the  convictions  of  his 
brethren,  but  holding  his  own  as  he  holds  his 
life. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

TWO   SPECIAL   AGENCIES. 

I^^SjN  the  working  church  are  two  agencies 
PSm  deserving  particular  mention,  —  the 
Sunday-school  and  the  mid-week 
service.  These  agencies  are  related  to  our 
special  subject  as  the  means  or  methods 
through  which  the  church  labors. 

The  aim  of  the  Sunday-school  is  the  aim 
of  the  church,  —  the  turning  of  men  to  right- 
eousness through  love  for  Christ.  In  secur- 
ing this  aim.  it  is  of  prime  importance  that 
the  atmosphere,  the  tone,  of  the  school  be 
spiritual.  The  present  is  an  age  of  machin- 
ery in  ecclesiastical  work.  The  peril  is,  there- 
fore, that  the  spiritual  will  become  eliminated 
from  the  life  of  the  church.  No  display  of 
knowledge  as  to  Biblical  cosmogony  or  geog- 
raphy   or    history    should    be    permitted    to 


TJVO  SPECIAL   AGENCIES.  8/ 

impede  spiritual  activity.  Much  less  should 
any  endeavor  for  securing  a  large  number 
of  members  or  constancy  of  attendance  be 
allowed  to  thwart  the  gaining  of  the  ultimate 
end.  Not  a  few  schools  seem  like  vast  ma- 
chine-shops in  which  processes  and  methods 
and  tools  are  more  manifest  than  the  pro- 
ducts, good  and  great  as  the  products  may 
be.  Schools  should  be  a  garden  in  which 
the  still  atmosphere  of  love,  the  still  shin- 
ing of  the  sun  of  God's  peace  on  the  soil 
of  human  life,  should  each  contribute  to  the 
growth  and  nurture  of  the  individual  Chris- 
tian character. 

The  supreme  purpose  of  the  Sunday-school, 
however,  is  more  vitally  dependent  upon  its 
teacher  than  upon  its  general  influence. 
Through  the  Sunday-school  teacher  the 
church  works  most  directly  and  powerfully 
and  effectively  upon  the  individual.  The 
opportunity  that  is  open  to  the  Sunday- 
school  teacher  is  marvellous.  No  such  op- 
jDortunity  for  the  influencing  of  the  character 
of  children  is  found  outside  the  home.     Most 


88  THE    WORKING   CHURCH. 

boys  and  girls  do  not  gain  much  knowledge 
in  the  hour  of  the  school.  But  the  effect 
that  a  noble  Christian  man  or  woman  has 
as  the  teacher  of  a  boy  or  girl  is  a  mighty 
factor  in  the  moral  character  and  life  of  that 
child.  It  is  an  influence  somewhat  akin  to 
the  influence  that  the  Earl  of  Shaftesbury  ex- 
erted upon  a  depraved  man.  "  What  did  his 
Lordship  say  to  you,  that  made  you  a  reformed 
man.?"  was  asked.  "Oh,  he  didn't  say 
much,"  was  the  reply.  "He  just  sat  down 
by  my  side  and  said,  *  Jack,  we  will  make  a 
man  out  of  you  yet.' "  It  was  the  upward 
gravitation  of  Christian  manhood  that  helped 
Jack.  Such  celestial  attractions  belong  to 
the  character  of  the  Sunday-school  teacher. 

The  most  important  element  of  the  Chris- 
tian character  of  the  Sunday-school  teacher 
as  related  to  the  character  of  the  scholar,  is 
his  love  for  the  scholar.  No  amount  of  Bib- 
lical knowledge,  indeed,  no  degree  of  intel- 
lectual skill  in  presenting  the  truth,  can  sup- 
ply the  lack  of  personal  affection.  If  a 
teacher   loves,  his   intellectual    qualifications 


TIVO  SPECIAL   AGENCIES.  89 

will  become  the  more  useful.  This  love  can- 
not be  simulated.  Young  human  nature  de- 
tects the  counterfeit  as  quickly  as  the  bank 
balances  the  depraved  coin.  The  teacher  is 
to  be  willing  to  sacrifice  himself  for  his  class. 
He  is  to  respect  its  members.  He  is  to  have 
a  regard  for  them,  not  in  the  mass,  but  as 
individuals.  "  He  calleth  his  own  sheep  by- 
name." Having  a  love  for  each,  he  will  also 
have  a  knowledge  of  each,  in  the  home  and 
the  school,  in  the  trials  and  the  joys,  in  the 
past  and  the  hopes  of  each.  Furthermore, 
the  teacher  bearing  this  love  to  his  pupils  is 
to  feel  free  to  talk  with  each  pupil  as  to  his 
personal  character.  The  teacher  is  to  be  the 
pastor  of  the  class  ;  he  is  to  be  the  shepherd 
of  this  little  flock.  He  is  to  be  the  great  aid 
of  the  parent  in  training  each  boy  or  each 
girl  into  Christian  manhood  or  womanhood. 
It  would  be  well  if  the  teacher  should  be  not 
less  of  a  teacher  but  more  of  a  pastor,  and 
if  each  teacher  should  recognize  himself  as 
the  pastor  of  the  class. 

To  the  giving  of  such    personal    influence 


90  THE    WORKING    CHURCH. 

most  members  of  the  Sunday-school  easily 
offer  themselves  by  reason  of  their  age.  A 
large  proportion  of  the  Sunday-school"  con- 
sists of  young  people.  It  is  to  the  young 
people  that  we  are  to  look  for  the  beginning 
of  the  Christian  life.  In  a  recent  meeting  at 
St.  Paul,  a  distinguished  evangelist  asked  for 
the  age  of  the  conversion  of  those  who  were 
in  the  audience.  The  audience  numbered 
about  twelve  hundred  people.  He  first  asked 
for  those  who  became  Christians  after  the  age 
of  fifty  to  rise,  and  one  arose.  He  asked  next 
for  those  who  became  Christians  between  the 
ages  of  forty  and  fifty  to  rise,  and  one  rose. 
Then  he  asked  in  turn  for  those  to  rise  who 
became  Christians  between  thirty  and  forty, 
and  twenty-one  rose  ;  for  those  between 
twenty-five  and  thirty,  and  thirty-eight  rose; 
for  those  between  twenty  and  twenty-five, 
and  one  hundred  rose  ;  for  those  who  became 
Christians  before  twenty  years  of  age,  and  six 
hundred  rose.  The  larger  share  of  the  mem- 
bers of  the  school  consists  of  those  who  are 
below  the  age  of  twenty.     It  is  the  age  of  con- 


Tl^FO  SPECIAL   AGENCIES.  9 1 

version.  It  is  the  period  when  the  teacher's 
love  and  words  have  the  strongest  influence 
in  leading  boys  and  girls  into  the  acceptance 
and  confession  of  Christ. 

In  the  Sunday-school  the  working  church 
works  in  and  through  its  teacher.  The  re- 
mark of  Garfield  that  the  best  college  for  him 
was  a  log,  at  one  end  of  which  sat  President 
Hopkins  and  at  the  other  James  A.  Garfield, 
is  quite  as  true  of  spiritual  discipline  as  of 
intellectual.  The  best  church  is  that  which 
has  the  best  Sunday-school,  and  the  best 
Sunday-school  is  that  which  has  the  best 
teacher, 

A  second  agency  which  the  working  church 
employs  in  its  administration  is  the  mid-week 
service. 

It  has  been  said,  by  the  best  of  recent  Eng- 
lish historians,  that  the  England  of  the  Puri- 
tan was  a  nation  of  a  book,  and  that  book  was 
the  Bible.  It  may  likewise  be  said  that  the 
mid-week  service  of  the  church  is  becoming 
the  study  of  a  book,  and  that  book  is  the 
Bible.     The  prayer  and  conference  meeting 


92  THE   WORKING   CHURCH. 

is  undergoing  a  change,  not  of  purpose,  but 
of  method.  This  meeting  of  a  former  gen- 
eration partook  of  the  character  of  a  lecture 
conducted  by  the  pastor,  deacons,  and  elders. 
Undoubtedly  it  had  many  advantages.  If  it 
were  dull,  as  it  not  infrequently  was  to  the 
younger  attendants,  it  certainly  was  edifying 
in  Christian  character  to  the  more  mature. 
Within  the  memory  of  many  young  Chris- 
tians, this  type  has  become  comparatively 
extinct.  It  has  been  followed  by  a  meeting 
of  quite  a  different  character,  in  which  the 
interest  and  profit  were  measured  by  the 
number  who  took  part.  The  meeting  was  a 
meeting  of  testimony.  The  minister  asked 
not  for  speeches,  but  for  talks.  The  briefer 
were  the  more  acceptable  ;  and  the  more  per- 
sonal they  were,  the  greater  was  their  power. 
This  form  of  meeting  still  continues.  It  has 
much  to  commend  it.  It  is  a  most  important 
means  of  Christian  growth.  It  suggests  one 
cause  of  the  marvellous  growth  of  the  Metho- 
dist Church.  Its  principle  is  the  central  prin- 
ciple   in    the    admirable   Christian    Endeavor 


TWO  SPECIAL  AGENCIES.  93 

movement.  It  is  of  great  usefulness  in  lead- 
ing men  to  the  personal  acceptance  of  Christ. 
It  promotes  the  sense  of  personal  responsi- 
bility. It  is  a  constant  and  public  confession 
of  Christ.  It  develops  the  spiritual  life.  Its 
peril  is  the  fostering  of  a  mechanical  and  hol- 
low type  of  piety.  Its  danger  lies  in  lacking 
intellectual  and  Scriptural  substance.  Its 
weakness  consists  in  the  development  of  self- 
consciousness. 

But  this  type  of  meeting  is  being  already 
somewhat  pushed  aside  by  a  third  and  in 
many  respects  a  higher  form.  The  central 
principle  of  this  meeting  is  knowledge  of 
the  Scriptures.  Its  method  is  determined 
by  the  Bible.  Its  purpose  is  edification  by 
the  Word  of  God.  This  type  of  meeting  is 
less  a  study  of  the  Bible  in  its  historical  or 
ethical,  doctrinal  or  theological  relations,  than 
in  its  practical.  It  seeks  to  know  the  mind 
of  God  as  thus  recorded  upon  all  those  sub- 
jects which  relate  to  the  upbuilding  of  in- 
dividual character.  It  is  a  Bible  reading, 
conducted   not   by   the   leader,   but   by   the 


94  THE   WORKING   CHURCH. 

whole  congregation.  Various  and  diverse  are 
the  measures  used  in  conducting  it.  The 
subject,  announced  in  advance,  may  be  an- 
alyzed, and  different  divisions  assigned  to 
different  members  for  treatment.  Slips,  with 
certain  passages  of  Scripture  indicated,  may 
be  distributed  among  a  dozen  or  more  for 
reading  when  they  are  asked  for.  The  leader 
should,  at  all  events,  hold  the  meeting  in  his 
own  keeping,  making  the  best  of  the  com- 
ments, yet  encouraging  the  habit  of  asking 
questions  ;  suggesting  many  passages  of  Scrip- 
ture, yet  encouraging  in  every  way  the  habit 
of  independent  study  of  the  Word  of  God. 
The  mid-week  service  of  this  type  is  in  widely 
separated  parts  of  the  country  becoming  pop- 
ular. An  eminent  pastor  said  to  me  recently 
that  he  does  not  care  to  hear  the  voice  of  the 
attendants  upon  the  prayer-meeting  of  his 
church,  except  as  the  truth  of  the  Bible  is 
indicated.  In  the  church  of  which  I  am  the 
minister,  this  method  seems  to  work  to  the 
satisfaction  and  profit  of  all.  It  combines 
the  advantages  of  the  two  forms  of  meetings 


TWO  SPECIAL  AGENCIES.  95 

to  which  I  have  alluded.  It  is  in  the  best  sense 
edifying,  tending  to  build  up  the  individual 
character  in  the  simple  truth  of  God.  It 
promotes  the  sense  of  individual  responsi- 
biUty.  It  fosters  constant  public  confession 
of  Christ.  It  has  warmth  with  light,  appeal- 
ing to  the  feelings,  yet  having  sufficient  in- 
tellectual substance  and  vigor.  It  turns  the 
eye  of  the  soul  away  from  itself  to  the  Father 
and  Saviour.  This  method  succeeds  in  avoid- 
ing stupidity  and  dulness ;  it  stops  the  long 
and  hopeless  exhortations  ;  it  gives  movement 
and  progress. 

If  the  prayer-meeting  were  more  true  to  its 
name,  there  would  be  less  cause  for  rejoicing 
over  this  evolution  of  the  Bible  meeting.  But 
the  prayer-meeting  is  not  true  to  its  name.  It 
has  become  a  "  remarks  "  meeting,  —  remarks 
which  are  of  some  worth,  but  not  of  such  a 
degree  of  worth  as  an  hour  in  which  a  few 
score  or  a  few  hundred  men  and  women  of  in- 
telligence and  piety  assemble  together,  ought 
to  offer.  But  the  Bible  meeting  demands 
and  promotes  piety  and  intelligence,  quickens 


96  THE   WORKING   CHURCH. 

the  heart  and  the  brain,  and  endeavors  to 
support  sound  practice  with  sound  theory  and 
to  cause  sound  theory  to  eventuate  in  sound 
practice. 

The  causes  of  this  development  or  ten- 
dency are  manifold  ;  but  the  chief  cause  is 
the  same  general  movement  which  in  theo- 
logical seminaries  results  in  the  introduction 
of  Biblical  theology  into  the  course  of  study, 
which  in  the  college  is  demanding  that  the 
Bible  be  made  the  object  of  special  attention, 
which  in  the  Sunday-school  is  contributing  to 
the  enlightened  as  well  as  reverent  study  of 
the  Word  of  God.  The  age  is  an  age  of  in- 
quiry. Systems  of  theology  have  use,  —  a  use 
of  prime  importance.  But  this  age  of  inquiry 
has  gone  back  of  theological  treatises  to  that 
Book  which  is  the  fountain  and  source  of 
whatever  in  those  treatises  is  of  enduring 
worth. 

It  may  prove  of  aid  in  conducting  such 
Bible  meetings  as  the  mid-week  service  to 
bear  in  mind  :  — 

(i)  That  the  subject  considered  should  be 


TWO  SPECIAL  AGENCIES.  97 

drawn  immediately  from  life.  It  should  pos- 
sess the  most  interesting  practical  interest. 
The  Bible  fosters  the  choice  of  subjects  of 
this  character.  It  is  concerned  chiefly  with 
human  life  and  with  God's  relation  to  human 
life. 

(2)  That  all  finical  and  allegorical  inter- 
pretations should  be  avoided.  Sound  com- 
mon-sense should  be  predominant  in  all 
exegesis.  Men  of  sense,  Christian  or  un- 
christian, are  repelled  by  interpretations 
which  lack  sense. 

(3)  That  topics  chosen  should  be  so  broad 
as  to  lend  themselves  to  easy  division  and  to 
give  that  variety  of  personal  reference  and 
application  which  the  Christian  in  the  variety 
of  his  spiritual  needs  may  require. 


CHAPTER   IX. 


TREATMENT    OF    STRANGERS. 


HE  church  is  not  primarily  a  social 
institution  ;  it  is  primarily  a  relig- 
ious institution.  Yet  the  social  re- 
lations of  its  members  have  a  primary  im- 
portance in  the  development  of  the  church  as 
a  religious  institution.  The  problem  —  simple 
in  its  terms,  though  far  from  simple  in  its  so- 
lution —  which  each  church  has  thus  presented 
to  itself,  is,  How  can  we  attract  strangers  to 
our  services  ?  How  can  we  secure  their  in- 
troduction to  ourselves  and  to  our  work  ? 
How  can  we  the  most  speedily  and  cour- 
teously cause  them  to  be  at  home  with  us  ? 
In  answering  these  questions  I  can  hardly 
hope  to  give  more  than  suggestions. 

But  before  making  any  attempt,  it  may  be 
said  that  those  moving  into  a  town  and  at- 


TREATMENT  OF  STRANGERS.  99 

tending  its  church  as  strangers  owe  certain 
duties  to  that  town  and  to  that  church  as 
well  as  the  town  and  the  church  to  them. 
These  duties  are  seldom  considered.  Pas- 
tors endeavor  to  open  wide  the  doors  of 
hospitality  to  strangers  ;  but  they  are  pre- 
vented from  driving  or  pushing  strangers 
through  the  portals.  They  exhort  the  older 
members  to  be  cordial ;  but  their  sense  of 
courtesy  forbids  their  preaching  to  strangers 
upon  the  proper  methods  of  accepting  offers 
of  hospitality. 

It  is,  we  doubt  not,  the  experience  of  the 
large  majority  of  ministers  that  strangers  fail 
in  their  duty  to  the  church  far  more  lament- 
ably than  the  church  fails  in  its  duty  to  them. 
In  every  congregation  are  a  few  who  from 
the  first  morning  they  are  shown  to  a  pew 
are  as  ready  to  receive  attention  as  the  older 
members  are  prompt  to  bestow  it.  But  nine 
tenths  are  far  otherwise.  They  hold  them- 
selves aloof  from  the  church  services.  They 
occupy  the  rear  seats  at  the  prayer-meeting  ; 
and  before  the  pastor  can  reach  the  door  they 


lOO  THE   WORKING   CHURCH. 

are  in  the  street.  They  receive  a  dozen  calls 
at  their  homes,  but  wait  months  before  re- 
turning them,  even  if  they  see  fit  to  return 
them  at  all.  In  a  large  Congregational  church 
of  a  large  Massachusetts  city  two  ladies  made 
in  a  month  seventy-five  calls  upon  those  who 
were  comparative  strangers.  Of  these  seventy- 
five  calls  only  one  received  its  fitting  and 
courteous  acknowledgment.  The  wife  of  the 
pastor  of  a  church  less  than  a  thousand  miles 
from  Boston  has  a  rule  of  calling  upon  all 
new  people  coming  into  the  congregation. 
The  proportion  of  those  who  return  her  calls 
is  about  one  to  five.  In  that  respect  of  which 
strangers  usually  complain  bitterly  of  a  church, 
they  are  themselves  most  derelict.  Strangers 
are  also,  as  a  body,  negligent  in  contributing 
to  the  financial  support  of  a  church  as  soon 
as  they  have  decided  to  make  it  their  relig- 
ious home.  The  writer  knows  of  a  lady  who 
remarked,  after  attending  a  church  for  a  year, 
that  she  was  ashamed  to  be  seen  there  longer 
without  renting  a  seat.  She  felt  as  she  ought 
to  feel,  —  that  as  soon  as  possible  after  her  en- 


TREATMENT  OF  STRANGERS.  1 01 

trance  she  should  hire  a  seat  and  pay  for  it. 
Many  strangers  are  also  inclined  not  to  be 
faithful  in  contributing  to  the  directly  relig- 
ious welfare  of  the  church.  They  do  not  let 
their  light  shine  in  the  meetings  of  devotion 
as  early  as  they  ought.  For  Christian  mod- 
esty, humility,  and  the  passive  virtues  we 
have  great  reverence  ^  but  they  are  ever  to 
be  distinguished  from  positive  indifference 
or  unassuming  selfishness. 

What,  then,  is  the  duty  of  strangers  to  the 
church  which  is  so  seldom  paid  t  The  duty 
is  the  very  simple  one  of  making  themselves 
known ;  of  holding  themselves  ready  to  re- 
ceive attentions  from  the  older  members  ;  of 
declaring,  in  forms  either  direct  or  indirect, 
their  desire  to  co-operate  in  the  work  of 
the  church.  They  should  come  towards  the 
church,  not  perhaps  half-way  in  accepting 
its  hospitalities,  but  at  least  a  quarter  way. 
They  should  not  only  manifest  their  willing- 
ness to  receive  the  social  courtesies  of  the 
members,  but  also  their  hearty  purpose  and 
wish  to  return  all  such  courtesies  in   fitting 


102  THE   WORKING   CHURCH. 

ways.  They  should  let  their  voice  be  heard 
in  the  service  of  song  and  of  prayer.  They 
should  let  the  influence  of  their  dollars  be 
felt  in  the  revenue  of  the  parish  and  in  the 
benevolent  offerings.  They  should  give  peo- 
ple a  chance  to  shake  their  hand.  And  all 
this  they  should  do  at  the  earliest  possible 
day  after  making  their  home  in  the  neighbor- 
hood of  the  church. 

In  the  swiftly  changing  communities  of  our 
cities  the  new  members  of  any  congregation 
soon  find  themselves  the  old  members.  With- 
in a  decade  one  half  of  the  ordinary  congre- 
gation of  the  cities  changes,  and  at  the  close 
of  a  period  of  twenty-five  years  hardly  one 
member  in  ten  remains.  Much  sooner,  there- 
fore, than  they  would  think,  have  the  strangers 
become  the  established  residents.  Upon  them, 
therefore,  at  an  early  day  devolves  the  duty  of 
showing  those  same  rites  of  hospitality  which 
were  shown  to  them.  They  ought  to  forget, 
as  soon  as  may  be,  that  they  are  new  members, 
and  so  become  an  integral  part  of  the  essential 
and  aggressive  forces  of  the  church. 


TREATMENT  OF  STRANGERS.  IO3 

For  its  social  work  the  church  should  be 
furnished  with  a  body  of  ushers,  and  also 
with  a  reception  committee.  The  work  of 
these  gentlemen  is  limited  to  the  more  pubHc 
services.  It  should,  however,  include  the 
larger  week-day  prayer-meetings  as  well  as 
the  services  of  Sunday.  The  reception  com- 
mittee should  remain  in  or  near  the  vestibule 
of  the  church  at  each  public  service  to  extend 
a  greeting  to  strangers.  Its  members  should 
know  the  congregation  so  well  that  they  can 
at  once  detect  those  who  are  "  new-comers." 
The  welcome  thus  given  should  be  hospitable, 
courteous,  neither  effusive  nor  indifferent.  It 
should,  by  both  words  and  manner,  indicate 
the  heartiness  of  the  greeting  of  those  who 
are  personal  friends  in  Christ,  even  if  they 
are  not  in  each  other.  The  member  of  the 
reception  committee  who  thus  welcomes  them 
should  at  once  say  to  the  usher  that  the 
gentleman  or  lady  is  a  stranger  and  would  be 
glad  to  be  shown  to  a  seat.  This  semi-intro- 
duction may  give  the  usher  a  sufficient  occa- 
sion to  speak  a  word  of  greeting.     But  in  the 


104  THE   WORKING   CHURCH. 

coming  of  many  strangers  into  a  large  con- 
gregation, any  conversation  is  necessarily  brief 
and  fragmentary.  It  is  not,  therefore,  unfit- 
ting for  the  usher  to  adopt  some  more  satis- 
factory method  for  extending  the  courtesy  of 
the  church.  I  know  of  at  least  one  church  in 
which  a  body  of  polite  and  faithful  ushers  has 
found  the  following  method  of  much  worth. 
Each  usher  has  a  small  card,  on  one  side  of 
which  is  printed  this  :  — 

"  If  you  are  a  stranger  in  this  church  it  would 
give  me  pleasure  to  see  you  at  the  close  of  the  ser- 
vice and  to  introduce  you  to  our  pastor  and  other 
members." 

This  simple  invitation  is  signed  by  the 
name  of  the  usher.  On  the  obverse  side  is  a 
blank  space  for  the  name  and  address  of  the 
one  who  receives  the  card.  This  method  has 
various  advantages.  It  gives  the  stranger  an 
opportunity  for  knowing  somewhat  of  the  ser- 
vice of  the  church  before  revealing  his  iden- 
tity. He  need  not  be  hurried  against  his  will 
into  taking  up  a  connection  which   he  may 


TREATMENT  OF  STRANGERS.  105 

regret.  It  is  not  too  effusive.  It  is  yet  suf- 
ficiently aggressive  in  the  offers  of  hospitality. 
It  invites  accuracy  in  identifying  each  person. 
It  puts  each  stranger  in  the  line  of  the  per- 
sonal life  and  work  of  the  church.  In  the 
execution  of  this  plan  the  number  of  ushers 
must  be  large,  and  they  should  be  aided  by 
the  reception  committee  and  by  others  who 
may  be  blessed  with  social  gifts.  Emphasis 
should  also  be  constantly  laid  by  the  pastor 
upon  the  duty  of  all  pew-holders  speaking  to 
strangers  whom  they  may  meet.  It  may  also 
be  noted  that  it  is  well  to  pursue  a  similar 
method  in  the  case  of  large  prayer-meetings. 
Along  this  line  it  may  be  suggested  that  the 
pastor  at  the  close  of  the  prayer-meeting 
should  make  his  way  to  the  door  through 
which  the  people  pass,  and  should  give  to 
each  one  a  hearty  greeting.  I  know  of  able 
ministers  who  indicate  their  hospitality  in  a 
like  way  at  the  close  of  the  Sabbath  morning 
service.  Selecting  the  aisle  which  is  the  least 
filled,  they  rush  to  the  door  of  exit.  I  con- 
fess that  such  a  procedure  under  the  circum- 


lo6  THE   WORKING   CHURCH. 

Stances  seems  to  me  to  be  lacking  in  dignity. 
It  is  far  better  for  the  ushers  to  meet  strangers 
at  the  close  of  the  service,  and  to  escort  them 
to  the  pastor,  who  remains  near  the  stairway  to 
the  pulpit. 

As  soon  as  one  indicates  his  desire  to  feel 
at  home  in  a  church,  the  people  of  that  church 
should  extend  to  him  the  ordinary  courtesy 
through  calling  at  his  home.  Every  church 
should  have  its  committee  upon  strangers, 
but  no  church  should  demand  that  this  com- 
mittee have  all  the  pleasure  of  first  knowing 
these  strangers.  The  members  of  this  com- 
mittee should  indeed  call  at  the  home  of 
strangers,  but  they  should  also  make  these 
strangers  known  to  those  of  the  church  who 
live  in  the  same  neighborhood  into  which 
they  have  moved.  In  a  large  church  it  is  quite 
impossible  for  any  one  person  to  know  more 
than  a  small  proportion  of  all  the  members. 
Acquaintance,  therefore,  in  the  same  neighbor- 
hood should  be  specially  fostered.  The  chair- 
man of  the  committee  on  strangers,  therefore, 
at  once  on  knowing  that  a  family  in  a  neigh- 


TREATMENT  OF  STRANGERS.  10/ 

borhood  desires  to  become  associated  with 
the  church,  should  communicate  the  fact  to 
the  older  members  residing  in  the  same  neigh- 
borhood, and  ask  them  to  call  and  to  know 
the  new  residents.  This  method  tends  to 
do  away  with  a  mere  formality  of  church 
acquaintance.  It  tends  to  found  this  ac- 
quaintance upon  genuinely  social  as  well  as 
ecclesiastical  considerations.  It  makes  ac- 
quaintance easy  because  natural.  It  is  eco- 
nomical in  labor  and  time.  It  is  simple  ;  it 
adopts  the  principle  of  the  division  of  labor, 
and  wherever  it  has  been  wisely  applied  it 
has  proved  of  much  worth. 

The  traditional  ''  social "  should  not  be 
slighted  in  the  organized  endeavor  of  the 
church.  But  the  "  social  "  should  always  be 
sociable.  If  it  is  cold  in  its  atmosphere  and 
filled  with  unnecessary  formalities,  it  is  a 
dull,  gloomy,  distressing  occasion.  The  hour 
should  not  be  so  filled  with  music  and  read- 
ings and  addresses  as  to  leave  no  time  for 
conversation,  and  yet  the  hour  should  not  be 
so  devoid  of  such  pleasures  as  to  seem  vacant 


I08  THE   WORKING   CHURCH. 

and  bare.  The  socials  should  also  recognize 
the  fact  that  it  is  much  easier  to  be  sociable 
over  a  cup  of  coffee  ! 

It  remains  to  be  added  that  as  the  pastor 
succeeds  in  getting  strangers  at  work  in  the 
church,  they  cease  to  be  strangers.  The 
work  identifies  them  with  the  church.  Work 
promotes  knowledge  of,  and  love  for,  the 
church.  The  sooner  the  pastor  is  able  to 
assign  some  individual  Christian  duty  to  each 
new  member,  the  sooner  he  may  throw  aside 
all  responsibility  as  to  mere  social  acquaint- 
ance. Work  for  Christ  and  His  church  makes 
all  one.  Let  the  church  hold  itself  as  a 
spiritual  institution,  using  social  courtesies  as 
agencies  in  its -spiritual  development.  It  is 
also  true  that  the  use  of  social  courtesies  as 
means  renders  them  more  social  and  more 
courteous  than  if  they  are  regarded  as  ends. 


CHAPTER   X. 

THE    UNCHURCHED. 

LUSTERING  about  many  churches, 
be  they  in  the  city  or  in  the  country, 
is  a  population  as  remote  from  the 
church  in  sentiment  as  it  may  be  near  to  it 
in  space.  As  to  the  duty  of  the  church  to 
endeavor  to  reach  these  people  there  is  no 
question.  The  question  is  as  to  the  method 
of  reaching  those  who  are  thus  unchurched. 
I  answer,  first,  that  a  systematic  religious  cen- 
sus should  be  made  of  all  the  families  of  each 
city,  town,  and  parish.  The  church  census 
is  not  designed  as  a  substitute  for  spiritual 
power.  Its  express  purpose  is  to  facilitate  and 
to  make  more  effective  the  work  of  the  Holy 
Ghost.  Nor  is  its  aim  the  annulling  of  the 
religious  duties  of  the  members  of  a  church. 
It  proposes  to  increase  these  duties  and  to 


no  THE   WORKING   CHURCH. 

add  to  their  obligation.  The  Massachusetts 
pastor  was  as  right  in  his  logic  as  he  was 
wrong  in  his  piety  in  saying  that  he  did  not 
desire  his  church  to  make  this  canvass,  since 
it  would  give  the  members  too  much  to  do  ! 

The  church  census  is  simply  a  voyage  of 
discovery  to  learn  who  are  outside  of  direct 
religious  influences,  for  the  purpose  of  draw- 
ing those  thus  found  within  the  circle  of 
these  influences.  It  is  a  movement  pre- 
liminary to  the  wise  presentation  of  the  or- 
dinances of  the  church  to  those  not  receiving 
them.  The  motive  is  spiritual,  the  method 
simple,  and  the  means  accessible. 

The  present  conditions  of  social  and  re- 
ligious life  emphasize  the  need  of  a  canvass 
of  this  character  in  each  town.  The  in- 
clination of  non-attendance  at  church  is 
strong.  The  causes  of  this  inclination  may 
be  open  to  debate  ;  the  fact  is  generally 
acknowledged.  Population  circulates  rapidly. 
Families  have  no  permanent  abiding-place. 
The  American  home,  like  that  of  George 
Eliot  in  her  last  years,  is  on  wheels.     The 


THE    UNCHURCHED.  Ill 

increasing  custom  of  renting  houses  invites 
this  constant  rotation.  Furthermore,  the 
drift  of  population  from  rural  districts  to 
metropolitan  centres  is  great,  —  hardly  less 
great  in  the  West  than  in  the  East. 

The  church  census  is  therefore  needed. 
For  the  constant  or  irregular  migration  from 
town  to  town  loosens  the  religious  ties  of  the 
ordinary  home.  Without  special  desire  of 
availing  itself  of  the  privileges  of  the  church, 
the  family  fails  to  take  up  a  connection  with 
the  church  in  the  new  neighborhood.  It 
simply  falls  out  of  all  ecclesiastical  relation- 
ship. This  condition  every  minister  knows 
is  not  infrequent.  The  canvass  reveals  fam- 
ilies of  this  nature.  It  so  makes  them  known 
that  the  church  not  only  can  open  its  doors 
to  them,  but  even  invite  them  to  enter.  The 
urban  movement  of  population  works  similar 
effects.  Many  persons  from  country  homes 
are  inclined  to  feel  that  they  are  not  wanted 
in  the  city  churches.  The  feeling  is,  I  be- 
lieve, not  accordant  with  the  facts,  yet  it  is 
more  or  less  sincere.     The  religious  census 


112  THE   WORKING   CHURCH. 

of  a  city  discovers  not  a  few  homes,  whose 
members  are  church-members,  in  which  this 
sentiment  prevails.  The  knowledge  of  the 
fact  prompts  to  urgency  in  the  extending  of 
the  courtesies  of  the  church. 

We  present  on  page  113  a  series  of  ques- 
tions which  should  be  asked  of  each  family 
of  a  town,  through  a  personal  canvass.  This 
form  has  also  been- employed  in  a  census. 

The  census  represents  the  proper  attitude 
of  the  churches  toward  those  who  are  in- 
clined to  neglect  their  services.  This  atti- 
tude should  be  that  of  hearty  invitation. 
The  church,  like  Christ,  is  sent  to  find  the  lost 
sheep.  It  is  not  merely  to  invite,  it  is  also 
to  go  out  into  the  highways  and  the  byways 
and  compel,  them  to  come  in.  The  minister 
who,  when  asked  what  he  was  doing  to  reach 
people,  replied,  "  Opening  the  doors  of  the 
church  Sunday  morning,"  had  failed  to  grasp 
the  central  truth  of  Christianity.  By  its 
very  constitution  the  church  cannot  be  any- 
thing else  than  missionary.  This  attitude  of 
the  churches  is  at  the  present  time  of  special 


THE   UNCHURCHED.                     113 
DATE AO 

No Street. 

Name 

Members  of. 

Attendance  or  Preference.. 

Members  elsewhere  or  letter 

No>  in  family Under  21  years 

No.  who  attend  S.  S. Where. „ 

Servants 

Boarders 

Willing  to  teach  in  S.  S,. 

Have  you  a  Bible  f 

Remarks 


Will  the  pastor  to  whom  this  is  sent  keep  this  slip  for 
future  reference  and  use  ? 


114  '^^^   WORKING   CHURCH, 

importance.  For  communities  both  change 
and  increase  rapidly  in  population.  In 
twenty-five  years  the  constituency  of  many 
urban  and  suburban  churches  undergoes  a 
complete  revolution.  In  these  swift  changes 
many  families  fail  to  form  any  relation,  other 
than  the  slightest,  with  a  church.  If  they 
know  the  church,  the  church,  under  ordinary 
conditions,  fails  to  know  them.  A  minister 
of  a  church  in  a  city,  either  large  or  small,  or 
in  a  village,  cannot  learn  the  ecclesiastical 
preferences  of  families  that  are  more  or  less 
peripatetic.  But  such  families  should  be 
reached  ;  if  not  reached,  they  fail  to  receive 
the  gospel  quite  as  much  as  the  heathen. 

But  this  canvass  is  of  greatest  worth  in  form- 
ing a  basis  of  more  definite  and  more  aggres- 
sive Christian  work.  The  canvass  reveals 
those  who  are  unchurched  ;  the  minister  and 
congregation  should  at  once  endeavor  to 
gather  them  into  the  church.  When  the 
census  makes  known  "  backsliders,"  efforts 
should  at  once  be  made  to  reclaim  them. 
When  the  census  discovers  children  who  are 


THE   UNCHURCHED.  115 

members  of  no  Sunday-school,  Sunday-school 
committees  should  at  once  be  sent  to  bring 
them  into  classes.  If  the  church  has  no  room 
for  these  new-comers,  room  should  in  some 
way  be  made.  The  privileges  of  the  house 
of  God  should  be  denied  to  no  soul  by  reason 
of  lack  of  square  feet  of  flooring.  If  one 
church  can«not  give  them  room,  another  may 
be  able.  Certainly  under  so^ne  ecclesiastical 
roof-tree  they  should  find  a  Christian  church- 
home. 

The  endeavor  to  reach  the  unchurched 
should  not  simply  be  systematic,  it  should 
also  be  constant.  Systematic  visitation 
should  be  continued,  not  for  six  months,  but 
for  years.  Constant  pressure  is  more  effec- 
tive for  the  proposed  purpose  than  heavy 
periodical  pressure.  Furthermore,  both  the 
church  and  the  minister  should  strive  to  re- 
tain even  the  slightest  ties  which  may  connect 
a  family  with  the  church.  The  service  at  a 
wedding  or  a  funeral  may  be  the  small  cord 
which  may  in  years  grow  into  the  cable 
uniting  the  individual  family  to  the  church- 
home. 


I  1 6  THE   WORKING   CHURCH. 

In  many  instances,  instead  of  the  man 
coming  to  the  church,  the  church  must  go  to 
the  man.  The  church  is  apostolic,  mission- 
ary. In  this  aggressive  endeavor  no  methods 
are  more  worthy  of  attention  than  those  of 
Mr.  McAll  in  Paris. 

For  several  years  the  churches  and  min- 
isters of  the  United  States  have  been  talking 
as  to  means  and  measures  for  reaching  the 
unchurched  of  the  large  cities.  The  general 
difficulty  with  many  means  and  measures 
proposed  is  the  difficulty  of  most  patents, — 
complication  ;  the  machinery  is  too  elabo- 
rate. The  methods  of  Mr.  McAll  represent 
the  simplicity  of  spiritual  genius  and  the 
genius  of  simplicity. 

The  first  point  relates  to  a  place  of  meet- 
ing. The  stations  of  the  McAll  Mission  are 
rooms,  seating  from  one  hundred  and  fifty  to 
three  hundred  persons,  plainly  furnished,  yet 
attractive,  with  chairs  and  pictures,  on  the 
ground  floor,  and  usually  in  places  where 
people  *'  most  do  congregate."  To  reach  the 
masses,  one  must    ^o  where  the  masses  are. 


THE   UNCHURCHED.  \\J 

We  must  get  as  close  to  them  as  we  can.  It 
is  not  necessary  to  build  a  church  edifice.  A 
simple,  attractive  room,  on  the  ground  floor, 
brilliantly  lighted  at  night,  is  far  more  ef- 
fective than  a  building  which  in  form  and 
structure  proclaims  its  religious  purpose.  To 
effect  this  purpose  of  gathering  in  all  classes, 
the  place  of  meeting  must  be  immediately 
off  the  street.  Mr.  McAU  would  never  have 
achieved  his  present  success  had  he  obliged 
Frenchmen  to  climb  a  flight  of  stairs  to 
attend  his  services.  We  cannot  evangehze 
Boston,  or  New  York,  or  Chicago  on  the 
second  floor!  In  every  way  should  the  ap- 
proach to  the  room  in  which  these  evangehstic 
services  are  held  be  made  easy  and  attractive. 
Placard  and  gas  should  draw  and  hold  the 
attention.  The  surroundings  should  be  in- 
viting to  the  evening  stroller.  A  word  of 
welcome  should  await  him  at  the  threshold, 
and  be  continued  and  emphasized  with  a 
warm  grasp  of  the  hand  within  the  doors. 

A  second  point  as  important  as  the  loca- 
tion and  attractiveness  of  the  place  of  meet- 


Il8  THE   WORKING   CHURCH. 

ing  relates  to  the  character  of  the  meeting. 
The  service,  first  of  all,  should  be  interesting. 
If  it  is  dull  or  stupid,  it  is  a  failure  for  its  im- 
mediate aim.  It  is  impossible  to  hold  the 
unconverted  masses  without  interesting  them. 
In  gaining  this  purpose,  the  power  of  song 
has,  in  France,  proved  most  effective.  The 
Moody  and  Sankey  songs  are  translated  and 
sung  quite  as  much  in  Paris  as  in  New  York. 
The  wanderers  on  the  streets  at  night  can 
be  thus  attracted.  These  songs  are  open  to 
criticism  on  grounds  of  reverence  and  truth- 
fulness as  well  as  of  aesthetics.  But  for  their 
purpose  of  drawing  and  holding  the  masses, 
they  are  unequalled.  Scores  of  people  will 
come  off  the  street  to  sing, 

"  The  half  was  never  told," 

who  would  turn  away  from  the  most  eloquent 
sermon. 

But  a  meeting  at  a  McAll  station  is  incom- 
plete without  an  address.  This  address  is 
usually  a  direct,  personal,  warm,  wise  appeal. 
I  have  seen  scores  of  the  blue-jacketed  work- 


THE    UNCHURCHED.  II9 

men  of  Paris  listening  to  such  appeals.  Some 
were  listless,  more  were  touched  in  heart, 
most  were  interested.  Will  not  the  laborers 
of  Boston,  New  York,  and  Chicago  likewise 
listen  }  The  masses  of  the  American  people 
seem  to  me  less  hungry  for  the  gospel  than 
the  masses  of  the  French  people;  but  I  am 
constrained  to  believe  that  under  proper  con- 
ditions scores,  if  not  hundreds,  could  be 
gathered  night  by  night  into  little  mission 
rooms  in  our  great  cities,  —  scores  who  now 
do  not  enter  a  church  once  a  year. 

Work  of  this  character  demands  a  man, 
and  demands  money.  It  requires  wisdom, 
faith,  hope,  tact,  patience,  and,  above  all  else, 
a  love  for  perishing  souls  and  a  love  for 
Christ  who  died  to  save  them.  But  is  it  not 
a  method  of  work  the  success  of  which  in 
the  new  republic  of  the  Old  World  gives  a 
promise  of  its  success  in  the  old  republic  of 
the  New  World  ?  Is  not  God  able  to  do, 
through  us,  for  American  cities  what  He  is 
doing  through  an  English  Congregational  min- 
ister for  Paris  and  other  French  cities  ? 


I20  THE   WORKING   CHURCH. 

If  the  individual  church  would  do  its  duty 
to  those  who  live  in  its  immediate  vicinity, 
and  who  neglect  all  religious  services,  it  were 
well.  Yet  even  such  faithfulness  would  not 
effect  results  equal  to  the  general  needs.  For 
beyond  the  immediate  vicinity  of  the  church- 
es, in  parts  of  the  cities  whence  churches 
have  withdrawn,  are  thousands  of  people  who 
are  without  the  help  which  the  church  should 
be  able  and  willing  to  offer.  In  each  country 
district,  too,  miles  away  from  any  church,  are 
many  families,  who  are  more  bereft  of  the  priv- 
ileges of  the  church  than  the  Fiji  Islanders. 
Many  churches  are  devoting  every  energy  to 
keeping  themselves  alive.  They  feel  unable 
to  be  aggressive  in  either  personal  or  pecuni- 
ary effort.  They  yield  to  the  up-town  pres- 
sure of  the  tide  of  the  better  class  of  people. 
They  seek  what  is  recognized  as  a  more 
desirable  constituency.  They  are  not  worthy 
of  blame  only,  since  their  mistake  is  quite  as 
much  one  of  method  as  of  motive  ;  but  the 
church,  however,  should  know  that  it  can 
maintain  its  integrity  only  by  bringing  into 


THE   UNCHURCHED.  1 21 

its  life  as  constant  factors  those  who  dwell 
about  its  edifice.  For  the  purpose  of  bring- 
ing these  persons  into  the  church,  every 
means  of  personal  visitation  and  attractive- 
ness in  service  should  be  employed. 

For  the  purpose,  however,  of  reaching  the 
non-churchgoing  population,  the  union  of 
churches  in  aggressive  endeavor  may  prove 
of  much  worth.  The  organic  uni-on  of  all 
denominations  of  Protestants  is  a  hope  born 
of  the  unreasoning  heart  of  the  religious  en- 
thusiast. Organic  union  is  not  possible,  and 
if  it  were  possible,  is  not  to  be  desired.  And 
if  organic  union  were  once  formed,  it  is  more 
than  probable  that  the  union  thus  formed 
would  for  religious  efficiency  become  dis- 
union. But  union  for  Christian  work  is  pos- 
sible at  the  present  time,  and  is  more  to  be 
desired  than  any  other  practical  method  of 
evangelization.  It  is  thus  that  neighborhoods 
having  too  few  churches  may  be  supplied 
with  religious  privileges.  It  is  thus  that 
neighborhoods  having  too  many  churches  may 
spend  their  superfluous  strength  in  destitute 


122  THE   WORKING   CHURCH. 

districts.  It  is  thus  that  the  evils  of  an  over- 
multiplication  of  churches  may  be  avoided, 
and  religion  instead  of  rivalries  promoted. 

The  history  of  Christianity  since  the  apos- 
tolic age,  when  there  were  Cephasites,  Apol- 
losites,  Paulists,  and  Christians,  has  been  the 
history  of  ecclesiastical  divisions.  The  list  of 
these  divided  members  of  the  one  body  of  our 
Lord  is  to-day  longer  than  ever.  The  pastor 
has  been  too  eager  to  build  up  his  individual 
church,  and  not  sufficiently  eager  to  build  up 
the  whole  church  of  his  order  ;  and  the  whole 
church  of  all  orders  has  suffered.  The  whole 
church  of  one  order  has  been  too  solicitous  to 
build  up  itself,  and  not  sufficiently  solicitous 
to  build  up  the  whole  church  of  all  orders  ; 
the  church  universal  has  suffered. ^  The  time 
has  now  come  when  the  broadest  and  high- 
est motives  should  have  a  controlling  influ- 
ence.    Denominational  methods  have  proved 


1  "  The  Catholic  religion  respects  masses  of  men,  and  ages.  It 
is  in  harmony  with  Nature,  which  loves  the  race  and  ruins  the  indi- 
vidual. The  Protestant  has  his  pew.  which  of  course  is  the  first 
step  to  a  church  for  every  individual  citizen,  a  church  apiece." 
—  Journal  of  R.  W.  Emerso7i,  Cabofs  Memoir,  p.  472. 


THE    UNCHURCHED.  123 

insufficient.  Interdenominational  methods  of 
work  are  not  practicable.  Undenominational 
methods  are  at  once  practicable,  desirable, 
and  full  of  promise.  With  a  basis  as  broad 
and  strong  as  the  love  for  God  and  man,  let 
all  the  churches  unite  in  the  aggressive  war- 
fare against  the  world,  the  flesh,  and  the  devil. 
With  a  doctrinal  union  as  firm  and  elastic 
as  the  Apostles'  creed,  let  all  those  confess- 
ing the  one  Name  in  which  alone  there  is 
salvation,  become  one  in  purpose,  methods, 
and  movement.  Let  co-operation  take  the 
place  of  competition,  and  diversity  be  sub- 
stituted for  division. 

The  religious  census  is  the  beginning  of 
this  advance.  The  second  step  is  the  sys- 
tematic visitation  and  personal  invitation  to 
participate  in  the  work  and  worship  of  the 
church.  Personal  conversation  upon  the 
most  personal,  which  is  also  the  most  impor- 
tant, of  subjects  should  become  usual.  Those 
classes  now  neglecting  and  neglected  by  the 
church  may  thus  be  won  into  close  and  help- 
ful  fellowship.     Let   the   churches   unite  in 


124  THE    WORKING   CHURCH. 

caring  for  districts  in  our  own  land  that  are 
now  more  heathen  than  Japan. 

Such  a  united  movement  would  be  most 
useful  in  calming  the  ruffled  waters  which 
are  so  stirred  up  by  socialistic  agitations. 
By  hanging  bomb-throwers,  the  law  cannot 
put  out  the  fires  hissing  in  the  furnace  of 
public  discontent.  The  gospel  alone  can  cure 
socialism  and  anarchy  ;  and  the  gospel  must 
cure  socialism  and  anarchy,  or  they  will  not 
be  cured.  The  divine  love  as  the  divine  law 
for  human  acceptance,  and  the  divine  love  as 
the  divine  law  for  human  obedience,  must  be- 
come supreme.  The  Church,  the  one  Church 
of  the  one  Christ,  having  one  body  though 
many  members,  and  each  member  adjusted  to 
every  other,  should,  in  love  for  Him  and  love 
for  man,  give  itself,  in  a  Christlike  spirit  and 
according  to  wise  methods,  to  these  Gentiles 
of  its  own  Judaea. 

Note.  —  In  answer  to  the  question  "  What  can  the  ordinary 
church  do  to  reach  the  masses  ?  "  the  Rev.  Dr.  D.  A.  Reed  (Pro- 
ce2dings  of  the  Second  Convention  of  Christian  Workers  in  the 
United  States  and  Canada,  Sept.  21-28,  iS?;,  p.  32)  has  suggested 
these  methods  :  — 


THE   UNCHURCHED.  1 25 

"  In  concluding,  let  me  summarize :  *  What  can  the  ordinary 
church  do  to  reach  the  masses  ? ' 

"(i)  Let  the  services  of  the  church  be  simple,  pleasing,  and 
attractive. 

"  (2)  Have  special  evangelistic  services  in  the  evening,  with 
good  music. 

"  (3)  Have  a  well-manned  Sunday-school,  with  building  suitable 
for  class-rooms  for  a  large  number  of  adult  classes  ;  also  where 
classes  can  meet  during  the  week  for  literary  and  social  purposes. 

"  (4)  Have  educational  classes,  and  lectures  on  certain  evenings, 
on  the  great  burning  questions  of  the  day,  by  live,  earnest  men. 

"(5)  Where  a  church  numbers  over  three  hundred,  have  two 
pastors,  or  a  pastor  and  a  trained  assistant,  devoting  his  whole 
time  to  the  work,  under  the  direction  of  the  pastor  or  supplement- 
ing him. 

"  (6)  Make  much  of  personal  work,  the  efforts  of  individuals 
whose  hearts  are  full  of  love  for  souls.  Have  a  band  of  men  and 
women  trained  in  the  Bible,  who  shall  know  how  to  use  it  and 
love  to  use  it,  ready  to  work  in  all  meetings  of  an  evangelistic  char- 
acter in  the  inquiry-room,  ready  to  go  and  see  individuals  and  con- 
verse with  them  about  their  spiritual  needs,  wise  to  win  souls. 

"  (7)  Have  the  parish  districted,  and  find  out  where  the  people 
attend  church,  if  possible  ;  and  if  they  do  not  attend,  go  for  them 
and  invite  them,  not  once  but  many  times. 

"  (8)  Have  branch  chapels  or  cottage  prayer-meetings,  or  both, 
in  the  districts  where  fewest  people  attend  church.  They  will 
often  go  into  these  places  when  they  will  not  go  into  the  church. 

*'  (9)  Have  a  sufficient  number  of  visitors  for  each  district,  so 
that  too  many  families  will  not  be  given  to'  any  one. 

*'  (10)  Have  classes  into  which  those  who  are  converted  can 
enter  and  be  instructed  in  the  great  doctrines  of  Christianity,  and 
taught  how  to  study  the  Bible  with  profit  and  pleasure,  and  how 
to  engage  in  some  form  of  Christian  work.  4i»' 

*'(ii)  Set  the  converts  to  work,  watching,  directing,  encourag- 
ing them  until  they  get  to  love  it  and  consecrate  themselves  to  it. 
Show  them,  by  the  teaching  and  example  of  pastor  and  older 
Christians,  that  the  great  aim  of  the  church  is  to  bear  true  witness 
to  the  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ  and  save  men.  Show  each  Christian 
that  he  or  she  has  a  personal  work  to  do  with   persons ;   that 


126  THE   WORKING   CHURCH. 

money  and  prayers  are  not  sufficient ;  that  sympathy  and  love 
and  personal  solicitude  for  the  comfort  and  salvation  of  men  are 
w^hat  the  masses  need. 

"(12)  Money,  brains,  consecration,  and   the   aid   of  the  Holy 
Spirit  v^rill  enable  any  ordinary  church  to  win  the  masses." 


CHAPTER  XL 

BENEVOLENCE. 

ERTAIN  principles  every  pastor  may 
and  should  impress  upon  his  church, 
(i)  All  property  should  be  conse- 
crated to  God.  The  Christian's  wealth  is  not 
his  ;  it  is  Christ's,  to  whom  he  himself  belongs. 
He  is,  therefore,  to  keep  or  to  give,  to  hoard 
or  to  spend,  as  will  result  most  fully  in  the 
doing  of  the  Divine  will.  He  may,  like  Dea- 
con Safford,  place  a  self-imposed  limit  on  the 
wealth  he  will  retain,  giving  away  each  year 
whatever  he  finds  in  excess.  He  may,  like 
not  a  few,  reserve  ten  per  cent  of  his  income 
for  benevolence.  He  may  give  away  large 
amounts  or  small,  either  in  person  or  by  be- 
quest. But  whatever  method  he  adopts,  the 
principle  is  to  be  followed  that  property  be- 
longs to  God. 


128  THE   WORKING   CHURCH. 

(2)  The  peril  of  great  property,  which  is 
worldliness,  is  best  avoided  by  great  benevo- 
lence. Many  members  of  our  churches  are 
becoming  rich,  and  not  a  few"  very  rich.  The 
United  States  is  to  be  the  richest  nation  of 
history.  Many  men  making  money  rapidly 
can  keep  alive  their  Christian  faith  only  by 
giving  away  a  certain  percentage  of  it  as  rap- 
idly as  it  is  made.  **  I  grow  avaricious,"  said 
a  prosperous  banker,  "if  I  do  not  give  away 
much  money."  Benevolence  is  an  ethical  and 
Christian  safeguard. 

(3)  Benevolence  is  a  duty  laid  upon  all. 
Churches  distinguished  for  their  generosity 
usually  gain  their  eminence  from  the  gener- 
osity of  a  few.  An  offering  recently  made  in 
a  Presbyterian  church  of  New  York  amounted 
to  some  fourteen  thousand  dollars.  It  was 
heralded  as  a  munificent  contribution  ;  but  in 
it  was  one  check  for  ten  thousand  dollars,  and 
the  larger  part  of  the  balance  was  given  by 
two  or  three  men.  I  have  been  told  of  a  con- 
tribution of  sixteen  thousand  dollars,  of  which 
fifteen  thousand  dollars  were  given  by  three 


BENE  VOL  ENCE.  1 2  9 

contributors.     Each  should  not  only  give,  but 
each  should  give  in  proportion  to  his  means. 

(4)  The  larger  one's  property  or  income,  the 
larger  should  be  the  percentage  of  his  benev- 
olence. The  tithe  represents  a  great  funda- 
mental principle.  But  one  hundred  dollars 
from  an  income  of  a  thousand  is,  relatively  to 
the  needs  of  a  home,  a  much  larger  sum  than 
a  thousand  dollars  drawn  from  an  income  of 
ten  thousand.  The  thousand  dollars  may 
hardly  more  than  suffice  to  buy  necessaries; 
the  ten  thousand,  after  supplying  the  common 
wants,  leaves  a  large  balance  for  permanent 
investment.  On  the  whole,  rich  men  are  rel- 
atively less  generous  than  poor  men. 

(5)  The  just  demands  of  benevolence  are 
to  be  recognized  as  imperative.  What  do  they 
not  include }  Home  missions  and  foreign, 
charitable  organizations  of  every  sort,  philan- 
thropic movements,  the  endowment  of  col- 
leges and  schools  and  seminaries,  and  every 
endeavor  looking  to  the  redemption  of  the 
world  from  sin  and  unto  Christ,  are  within 
tlie  horizon  of  these  just  demands.     Almost 

9 


I30  THE   WORKING   CHURCH. 

daily  comes  some  appeal  to  the  desk  from 
which  this  chapter  was  written.  Each  ap- 
peal is  worthy.  By  itself  each  demand  seems 
to  deserve  prompt  and  generous  response. 
Every  secretary  of  every  mission  board 
hourly  hears  the  cry  for  help.  To  refuse 
to  hear  the  cry  always  means  retrenchment 
of  the  work,  frequently  retreat,  and  some- 
times absolute  defeat.  Despite  their  great 
generosity,  most  churches  and  most  Chris- 
tians have  no  conception  of  either  the  duty 
or  the  joy  of  giving  money  to  Christ's  work 
in  the  world. 

(6)  Benevolence  should  not  be  subject  to 
impulse,  but  the  result  of  wise  deliberation 
upon  the  needs  of  Christian  work.  Offerings 
should  not  be  proportioned  to  the  interest 
which  a  speaker  for  a  cause  may  or  may  not 
awaken ;  they  should  not  be  dependent  upon 
a  rainy  Sunday  or  upon  personal  presence  in 
a  service  in  which  the  contribution  box  is 
passed.  Their  amount  should  be  adjusted  to 
income  and  to  property  on  the  one  side,  and  to 
the  demands  of  the  work  on  the  other.     They 


BENEVOLENCE.  131 

should  be  systematic,  —  systematic  as  to  time, 
as  to  amount,  as  to  distribution.  They  should 
be  the  subject  of  premeditation,  and  in  many 
instances  of  pledge  in  advance.  The  objec- 
tion, so  often  made,  to  pledging  an  offering  of 
a  certain  sum,  since  the  amount  of  future  in- 
come is  an  uncertain  quality,  is  not  candid. 
Pledges  made  toward  the  benevolences  of  a 
church  are  usually  so  made  that  to  cancel 
them  is  easy.  Furthermore,  the  objection  is 
so  based  as  to  lose  all  definitive  force.  Every 
family  lives  in  a  certain  recognized  way, 
though  its  future  income  is  unknown. 

For  this  general  work  of  the  church  the 
system  of  annual  pledges  and  weekly  gifts  is 
the  best.  The  system  is  an  education  in  be- 
nevolence. It  is  an  education  in  the  feeling 
of  benevolence,  but  it  is  also  an  education 
in  the  principle  of  benevolence.  It  tends 
to  make  giving  constant  and  wise.  It  em- 
phasizes the  duty.  Unless  one  is  trained, 
he  seldom  gives  according  to  his  ability. 
The  largest  givers,  proportionally  to  their 
means,   are   found    among   those   who    have 


132  THE   WORKING   CHURCH. 

been  thus  educated  in  and  from  youth.  This 
system  teaches  children  as  well  as  men.  It 
attracts  and  retains  the  pennies  and  five-cent 
pieces.  The  constant  regularity  develops  the 
generous  impulses  and  motives. 

Akin  to  this  advantage  of  education  is  a 
second  which  the  system  offers.  It  tends  to 
change  benevolent  offerings  from  being  re- 
garded as  acts  of  grace  to  being  regarded  as 
acts  of  regular  church  administration.  It  les- 
sens the  inclination  to  judge  benevolence  as 
a  work  of  supererogation.  This  inclination 
is  strong.  Many  nominal  Christians  look  on 
the  field  of  foreign  and  home  missions  as 
one  to  which  they  bear  no  relation.  If  they 
aid  in  maintaining  missions,  the  assistance  is 
considered  as  a  favor  bestowed  and  not  as  a 
duty  done.  They  do  not  look  on  the  Ameri- 
ican  Board  as  a  society  doing  their  work  in 
China  and  Africa.  They  do  not  regard  the 
'Home  Missionary  Society  as  their  representa- 
tive in  the  churches  of  Minnesota  and  Mis- 
souri and  Texas.  They  do  not  consider  the 
American    Missionary    Association    as    their 


BENEVOLENCE.  133 

teacher  and  preacher  to  the  American  black 
man  and  red  man.  This,  however,  is  precise- 
ly the  fact.  These  and  all  other  societies  are 
simply  the  churches  organized  and  working 
for  certain  ends.  If  this  work  is  at  all  a  duty, 
the  support  of  it  is  not  an  act  of  grace,  but  of 
duty.  The  regular  giving  tends  to  foster  this 
just  estimate  of  it. 

The  system  of  weekly  offerings,  further- 
more, encourages  all  to  benevolence.  It  en- 
courages specially  those  whose  gifts  must  be 
small.  One  easily  gives  twenty-five  cents  a 
week  who  would  not  feel  able  to  pledge  twelve 
dollars  a  year.  It  is  easier  to  give  a  sm^ll 
sum  regularly  than  a  large  sum,  in  the  aggre- 
gate no  greater,  irregularly.  Those  who  are 
accustomed  to  give  nothing,  through  this  sys- 
tem are  usually  moved  to  give  something. 
Those  who  are  accustomed  to  give  largely  are 
thus  moved  to  give  more  largely.  The  man 
who  is  accustomed  to  give  twenty-five  dollars 
a  quarter  discovers  that  he  can  and  ought  to 
give  more  than  two  dollars  a  Sunday.  Sub- 
division, by  diminishing  the  amount  of  each 


134  THE    WORKING   CHURCH- 

gift,  at  once  convinces  those  who  are  not 
wealthy  that  they  are  able  to  give  something, 
and  those  who  are  wealthy  that  they  are  able 
to  give  more  generously. 

Following  from  this  advantage  is  a  fourth, 
which  is  that  the  amount  of  offerings  is  thus 
greatly  increased.  The  statistics  show  that 
the  introduction  of  the  system  usually  results 
in  a  gain  of  from  20  to  200  per  cent.  Of 
three  churches  in  Massachusetts  one  reported 
a  gain  of  300  per  cent,  one  of  between  400 
and  500,  and  one  of  not  less  than  500,  conse- 
quent upon  the  adoption  of  this  method.  Of 
this  increase  there  is  indeed  abundant  need, 
when,  in  a  rich  and  generous  Commonwealth 
like  Massachusetts,  each  Congregational 
church-member  gives  less  than  five  cents  a 
day  for  the  maintenance  and  extension  of 
the  church  at  home  and  abroad. 

The  disadvantages  of  the  system  are  few 
and  slight.  The  uncertainty  of  income,  the 
uncertainties  due  to  sickness  and  other  disa- 
bilities, render  it  inexpedient,  it  is  said,  to 
pledge  for  a  year  in  advance  a  specified  week- 


BENE  VOLENCE.  1 3  5 

ly  gift.  But  each  person  can  usually  be  as- 
sured of  a  certain  income.  He  can  make  his 
calculations  upon  this  basis  ;  and  if  the  31st 
of  December  shows  that  he  has  been  pros- 
pered more  than  he  dared  to  hope,  his  bless- 
ing may  fitly  be  recognized  and  bestowed  as 
a  thank-offering.  The  pledge  is,  indeed,  not 
one  to  be  kept  except  as  one  is  financially 
able  to  keep  it. 

In  the  use  of  pledges,  the  apparent  pub- 
licity of  the  system  would  seem  objectionable. 
But  this  publicity  is  only  apparent.  At  the 
furthest  the  treasurer  alone  knows  the 
amount  of  each  offering ;  and  usually  he  is 
ignorant,  —  for  an  account  is  kept,  not  of  the 
names  of  the  givers,  but  of  certain  numbers 
which  represent  the  givers. 

This  system  of  weekly  offerings,  though  so 
excellent,  does  not  succeed  of  itself.  It 
needs,  without  exception,  to  be  worked.  A 
poor  system  well  applied  may  prove  more 
effective  than  a  good  system  ill  applied.  This 
method  requires  constant  instruction  and 
appeal. 


136  THE    WORKING   CHURCH. 

In  his  own  relation  to  the  benevolence  of 
his  church,  the  pastor  should  impress  him- 
self with  the  duty,  (  i  )  of  giving  full  and 
exact  information  to  the  members  as  to  the 
condition  of  those  missionary  endeavors  in 
which  they  invest  ;  (  2  )  of  never  suffering 
himself  to  be  tempted  by  meagre  contribu- 
tions into  petulance  or  scolding ;  (  3 )  of  setting 
a  fitting  example  himself;  (4)  of  wisdom  in 
approaching  individuals  as  to  the  time,  place, 
and  amount  ;  ( 5  )  of  the  education  of  the 
young  and  old  ni  generous  giving  ;  (6 )  of  per- 
sistence, which  is  only  aggressive  patience. 

But  principles  even  broader  and  more  fun- 
damental than,  those  to  which  I  have  already 
alluded  are  to  be  made  potent  in  the  adminis- 
tration. It  is  hardly  too  much  to  say  that 
money  is  the  greatest  material  power  in  the 
modern  world  for  either  good  or  evil.  *'  It 
can  do,"  as  Mr.  Dombey  said  to  Paul,  —  "  it 
can  do  anything,  almost."  The  expression 
may  seem  bold,  yet  it  is  true,  —  that  the  pas- 
tor should  inspire  his  parishioners  to  make 
money  for  Christ.     This  is  an  age  of  differ- 


BENEVOLENCE.  1 37 

entiation  in  work.  The  workman  who  fifty 
years  ago  knew  a  whole  trade,  now  knows 
only  one  branch  of  that  trade.  The  editor 
of  the  old  times  was  the  printer;  his  hands 
set  up  and  struck  off  the  copy  which  the 
same  hands  had  written.  To-day,  on  a  large 
paper,  each  department  commands  several 
writers.  This  differentiation  runs  through 
all  departments  of  labor.  It  exists  in  Chris- 
tian work.  The  old  New  England  minister 
received  a  part  of  his  salary  in  the  farm 
which  surrounded  the  parsonage.  He  raised 
the  oats  and  hay  for  the  horse  which  carried 
him  over  his  parish  ;  and  potatoes  and  corn 
for  the  family  use.  To-day,  in  most  parts, 
he  gives  himself  entirely  to  his  work  as  a 
minister^  and  allows  his  parishioners  to  at- 
tend to  agriculture.  The  missionary  goes 
to  China  ;  he  goes  simply  as  a  missionary. 
He  goes  with  no  purpose  of  earning  a  liveli- 
hood. But  he  must  have  a  livelihood.  Now, 
with  this  differentiation  and  subdivision  of 
labor,  it  becomes  the  duty  of  the  home  church 
to  make  money  for  his  livelihood.     In  a  New 


138  THE    WORKING   CHURCH. 

England  State  is  a  farmer  who  has  been  a 
missionary.  He  has  sisters  in  Asia  who  are 
now  missionaries.  He  desires  to  aid  them  in 
their  work.  But  he  can  aid  them  more  effec- 
tively by  staying  at  home,  and  on  a  Vermont 
farm  coining  the  dollars  which  are  devoted  to 
the  wise  and  effective  prosecution  of  their  dis- 
tant labor.  Prayers  are  essential,  conversion 
is  essential,  personal  effort  is  essential ;  but 
benevolence  is  equally  essential  in  Christian 
work. 

But  money  is  not  only  an  essential  means 
of  doing  good,  money  is  also  the  means  of 
doing  the  widest  good.  Civilization  increases 
the  power  of  the  dollar.  ''  A  dollar  in  a  uni- 
versity," remarks  Emerson,  in  his  essay  on 
Wealth,  "is  worth  more  than  a  dollar  in  a 
jail  ;  in  a  temperate,  schooled,  law-abiding 
community,  than  in  some  sink  of  crime,  where 
dice,  knives,  and  arsenic  are  in  constant 
play."  The  electric  telegraph  has  widened 
the  dollar's  circle  of  influence.  One  can  sit 
in  his  dining-room  and  write  a  message  which 
shall,  before  he  finishes  his  dinner,  put  bread 


BENEVOLENCE.  1 39 

in  the  mouths  of  starving  men  in  China.  He 
is  feeding  them  just  as  truly  as  if  he  were  in 
Pekin,  and  standing  on  a  street  corner  giving 
away  food.  One  can  sit  in  his  pew  in  a 
church  of  New  York  or  San  Francisco,  of 
New  Orleans  or  Minneapolis,  and  by  his  gen- 
erosity dictate  the  removal  of  the  barbarism, 
and  the  enlightenment  by  Christianity,  of 
Asia  and  Africa.  The  forces  of  the  air  co- 
operate with  each  Christian  in  his  continental 
labor  of  love.  Puck  put  his  girdle  around  the 
world  in  forty  minutes.  The  Christian  of 
the  United  States  can  put  his  girdle  of  con- 
secrated gold  as  quickly  around  the  globe ; 
and  wherever  it  touches  the  earth,  its  flashes 
of  divine  influence  illuminate  the  night  of 
heathendom. 

At  the  opening  of  this  century  lived  in 
Salem  a  rich  merchant  by  the  name  of  John 
Norris.  Three  years  before  the  establish- 
ment of  the  American  Board  he  had  resolved 
to  give  a  sum  of  money  to  the  cause  of  for- 
eign missions.  To  his  home  came,  one  winter 
night  in  1806,  Dr.  Worcester  and  Dr.  Spring, 


140  THE   WORKING   CHURCH. 

of  Newburyport.  The  reverend  gentlemen 
were  endeavoring  to  found  a  theological 
school  at  Andover.  After  explaining  their 
plan,  they  departed,  without  any  promise  of 
aid  from  Mr.  Norris.  The  next  morning, 
however,  Mr.  Norris  said  to  Dr.  Spring:  "My 
wife  tells  me  that  this  plan  for  a  theological 
school  and  the  missionary  enterprise  are  the 
same  thing.  We  must  raise  up  the  ministers 
if  we  would  have  the  men  go  as  mission- 
aries." With  this  idea  he  promised  to  give 
$10,000  to  found  Andover  Seminary.  He 
went  to  the  bank,  drew  out  the  whole  amount 
in  silver,  carried  it  to  his  chamber,  and  with 
prayer  dedicated  it  to  the  cause  he  loved. 
He  explained  his  gift  in  silver  by  saying  that 
"  he  had  never  heard  that  paper  money  was 
given  to  build  the  Temple."  Who  shall 
estimate  the  influence  of  those  silver  dollars  t 
They  have  helped  to  educate  three  thousand 
ministers.  They  have  helped  to  educate 
hundreds  of  missionaries,  who  have  preached 
and  taught,  lived  and  died,  for  the  heathen. 
They  have   gleaned  in  a  path  reaching  from 


BENE  VOLENCE.  1 4 1 

Andover  hill  round  the  globe  to  Andover 
hill,  —  like  the  path  of  the  just,  which  shineth 
more  and  more  unto  the  perfect  day. 

But  money  may  also  be  the  most  lasting 
power  for  good.  Not  only  through  all  the 
world,  but  even  through  all  time  its  influence 
may  abide.  For  hundreds  of  years  Oxford 
and  Cambridge  Universities  have  existed. 
For  their  endowment  kings  and  queens  were 
glad  to  contribute.  Henry  IV.,  Edward  VI., 
Mary,  Elizabeth,  and  Charles  I.  gave  of  their 
rich  bounty.  The  august  rulers  of  England, 
whose  dust  has  mingled  with  native  dust,  still 
rule  in  the  kingdom  of  scholarship.  Here 
on  these  shores  John  Harvard  and  John 
Winthrop  and  Saltonstall  and  Yale  endowed 
colleges.  Funds  are  still  held  in  trust  by 
Harvard  University  which  have  for  two  hun- 
dred and  fifty  years  made  an  education  pos- 
sible to  youths  whose  brains  were  as  large  as 
their  purses  were  small.  From  generation  to 
generation,  as  men  have  come  and  men  have 
gone,  these  benefactions  have  remained,  and 
have  dropped  their  showers  of  honorable  aid. 


142  THE    WORKING    CHURCH. 

In  benevolence  much  money  is  so  used  as  to 
be  more  useless  than  spilled  water.  It  is  the 
nurse  of  indolence  and  of  crime.  The  Middle 
Ages  were  distinguished  for  their  benevo- 
lence. The  begging  friars  overran  Europe  ; 
but  they  came  as  the  locusts  upon  Egypt, 
to  devour  and  to  flee.  But  few  results  equal 
to  the  amount  expended  appeared.  The 
relief  was  temporary.  Money  is  not  to  be 
spent  in  loaves  of  bread  to  toss  to  a  man  in 
a  bog  ;  it  is  to  be  spent  in  a  plank  to  get  him 
out  of  the  mire,  that  he  may  himself  earn 
bread.  Money,  to  be  the  means  of  the 
greatest  good,  must  be  so  placed  as  to  make 
its  benefits  lasting ;  and  money  may  be  so 
placed  that  its  benefits  shall  last  as  long  as 
eternity.  The  individual  dies.  His  money 
may  never  die  ;  it  may  last  as  long  as  there 
are  woes  to  relieve,  needs  to  supply,  hearts 
to  regenerate,  souls  to  save.  His  money 
may  be  as  an  enduring  character  to  remain 
on  the  earth  to  continue  the  work  which  he 
himself  began. 

Wealth     represents     the     highest    values. 


BENE  VOLENCE.  1 43 

What  are  they  ?  They  are  intelligence,  vir- 
tue, honor,  truth,  duty,  character.  Wealth  is 
to  be  used  in  the  fostering  of  these  elements 
and  ideals.  The  men  and  the  society  that  are 
blessed  with  riches  should  be  more  intelli- 
gent, more  honorable,  more  loyal  to  truth  and 
to  duty,  and  more  just  in  the  regard  paid  to 
human  character  than  those  not  thus  blessed. 
To  the  creation  of  these  highest  values  wealth 
should  be  devoted. 

This  nation  is  rich.  It  is  the  wealthiest 
nation  on  the  face  of  the  globe.  It  has  a 
future  of  material  grandeur  which  exceeds 
the  brightest  pictures  of  fancy.  Wealth 
nearly  doubles  every  decade.  In  1850  the 
real  and  personal  property  of  the  United 
States  was  seven  billions;  in  i860  it  had 
increased  to  sixteen  billions  ;  in  1870  it  had 
become  twenty-four  billions;  in  18S0  it  was 
forty-three  billions.  It  increases  six  millions 
every  twenty-four  hours.  With  this  vast  in- 
crease of  vast  wealth,  the  question  becomes 
of  mighty  importance  :  Are  these  billions  to 
be  devoted  to  the  service  of   God  or  to  the 


144  THE   WORKING   CHURCH. 

service  of  Satan  ?  In  San  Francisco  are  forty 
millionnaires,  and  only  one  is  sai.d  to  be  a 
member  of  an  evangelical  church.  Shall  the 
wealth  of  this  country  be  in  the  hands  of 
godly  or  of  ungodly  men  ? 

The  old  motto  was,  Noblesse  oblige,  —  Nobil- 
ity of  blood  binds  one  to  noble  service. 
The  new  motto  is,  RicJiesse  oblige,  —  Riches 
bind  one  to  noble  service. 


CHAPTER   XII. 

THE   REWARDS    OF    CHRISTIAN    WORK. 

O  the  members  of  every  working 
church,  as  to  every  pastor,  in  the 
midst  of  wearying  toil,  frequently 
recurs  the  question  :  "  What  is  the  reward, 
what  is  the  compensation  ? "  The  answer 
should  always  be  free  from  utilitarian  con- 
siderations. Every  Christian  laborer  needs 
to  inspire  himself  with  the  thought  that  the 
noblest  rewards  are  his. 

To  the  Christian  one  such  compensation 
lies  in  the  assurance  that  he  is  co-operating 
with  the  best  forces  of  mankind,  —  he  is 
putting  himself  in  the  line  of  the  operation 
of  the  highest  and  most  lasting  powers  of 
humanity.  He  is  a  part  of  that  which  makes 
for  righteousness.  He  is  one  in  that  body  of 
noble  laborers  which  creates  the  best  -history. 


146  THE   WORKING   CHURCH. 

He  is  one  in  that  line  of  true  men  who  re- 
ceive the  ball  of  progress  and  hand  it  on  to 
those  who  come  after.  It  is  only  the  Chris- 
tian whose  life  and  work  are  thus  embodied 
in  the  noblest  forces  of  the  race.  I  acknowl- 
edge the  cultured  learning,  the  high  wisdom, 
and  the  literary  genius  of  a  Goethe  ;  but  I 
cannot  forget  that  the  pathway  of  Goethe 
was  like  the  pathway  of  the  lightning,  bril- 
liant and  destructive.  I  acknowledge  the 
pure  aims,  the  unstinted  generosity,  the  calm 
judgment  of  Harriet  Martineau  ;  but  I  cannot 
forget  that  her  last  years  were  devoted  to  a 
so-called  science  which,  without  lifting  mor- 
tals to  the  skies,  does  not  succeed  in  drawing 
angels  down,  —  the  science  of  Spiritualism.  I 
acknowledge,  and  acknowledge  with  pleasure, 
the  active  philanthropies  and  the  healthful  re- 
forms which  are  born  and  nurtured  beyond 
the  pale  of  the  Church.  Those  who  thus  la- 
bor have  their  reward :  it  is  the  reward  of 
putting  their  lives  and  operations  in  the  line 
of  those  forces  which  work  for  righteous- 
ness.    But  in  a  degree    higher,  in   a  mean- 


REWARDS   OF  CHRISTIAN  WORK.       1 47 

ing  nobler,  does  a  Christian  put  his  life  into 
the  work  which  elevates  mankind.  It  is  only 
the  Christian  aim  which  provides  an  ideal 
high  enough  for  man.  It  is  only  the  Chris- 
tian motives  which  furnish  strength  suffi- 
cient for  permanent  activity.  It  is  only  the 
Star  of  Bethlehem  which  guides  men  to  the 
shrine  of  purest  worship.  In  the  crypt  of 
the  old  cathedral  at  Glasgow,  facing  toward 
the  statue  of  John  Knox,  is  a  window  with  a 
picture  of  the  Good  Samaritan,  and  above  it 
these  words,  in  broad  Scotch  :  "  Let  the  deed 
shaw."  So  the  Christian  can  say  that  his  life, 
his  work,  are  to  shaiv.  In  his  life,  in  his  work 
in  relieving  the  evils  of  the  race,  in  giving 
light  for  darkness,  joy  for  sorrow,  he  has  his 
compensation. 

'One  may  say  that  his  life  is  a  small  life, 
that  his  work  is  a  slight  work.  Say  it  if  one 
will ;  but  I  also  say  that  great  results  may 
flow  from  a  life  apparently  small,  from  a  work 
apparently  slight.  At  one  time  the  history 
of  Europe  depended  upon  the  question 
whether    the    look-out    man    upon    Nelson's 


148  THE   WORKING   CHURCH. 

vessel  would  or  would  not  descry  a  ship  of 
Napoleon's  expedition  to  Egypt  which  was 
passing  not  far  off.  "  What  shall  we  have  ?  " 
An  aching  head,  a  heavy  heart,  a  weary 
back  ;  **  many  a  sorrow,  many  a  labor,  many 
a  tear."  **  What  shall  we  have  t "  If  we 
have  wound-prints  in  our  hands  and  feet,  if 
we  have  a  crown  of  thorns,  they  are  only 
what  He  had.  "What  shall  we  have.?" 
We  shall  also  have  what  He  had,  —  the  con- 
sciousness that  our  arm  is  striking  strongest 
blows  against  evil,  that  our  hands  are  lifting 
high  the  standard  of  the  right.  "  Would  you 
see  his  monument,  look  about  you  !  "  are 
words  written  concerning  Sir  Christopher 
Wren  on  the  walls  of  St.  Paul's  in  London. 
Is  there  any  compensation  of  Christian  ser- 
vice more  sweet  or  more  precious  than  the 
assurance  that  we  are  working  with  the  best 
forces  in  the  world  for  the  improvement  of 
the  race  '^. 

No  petition  is  more  frequent  in  the  heart 
of  the  faithful  pastor  than  this  prayer  that 
he  may  make  his   character   of  the   greatest 


REWARDS  OF  CHRISTIAN  WORR\       149 

worth.  He  would  sell  his  life  as  dearly  as 
possible ;  he  would  spill  his  blood,  drop  by 
drop ;  he  would  use  heart  and  brain  to  the 
utmost.  But  he  asks  for  himself  no  higher 
compensation  than  the  consciousness  that  his 
prayer  is  answered,  and  that  he  is  spilling 
his  blood,  drop  by  drop,  in  the  fight  for  the 
faith. 

A  further  compensation  of  Christian  ser- 
vice, belonging  both  to  the  church,  the  pastor, 
and  the  individual,  is  the  assurance  that  one 
is  working  with  God.  A  faithful  pastor  can 
bear  the  loss  of  popularity,  can  endure  the 
loss  of  the  personal  love  of  the  church,  can 
see  pews  emptied  and  income  decrease  ;  but 
he  can  see  all  this  with  a  braver  heart  than 
he  can  see  that  his  church  is  failing  in  its 
personal  consecration,  thus  failing  to  give 
itself  to  the  work  of  God  for  the  world. 

At  Williamstown  a  single  granite  monu- 
ment marks  the  spot  where  fourscore  years 
ago  stood  a  haystack,  kneeling  in  whose 
shelter  five  college  boys  consecrated  them- 
selves to  foreign  missions.     It  is  the  birth- 


150  THE    WORKING   CHURCH. 

place  of  the  foreign  missionary  work  of  the 
American  Church.  I  follow  those  boys  into 
manhood,  and  to  the  other  side  of  the  globe. 
The  Asiatic  cholera  smote  Gordon  Hall  and 
Samuel  Newell,  and  their  dust  lies  mingled 
with  the  coral  sands  of  India.  Adoniram 
Judson  was  buried  at  sea.  Samuel  J.  Mills 
found  an  ocean  grave  on  the  coast  of  Africa. 

Say,  if  one  will,  if  one  is  so  narrow  and 
hard-hearted,  that  their  lives  knew  no  peace 
and  satisfaction  ;  but  one  cannot  long  reflect 
on  their  work  without  knowing  the  deep  com- 
pensations of  their  lives.  They  had  builded 
their  lives,  they  had  builded  their  bodies,  into 
the  temple  of  God  on  earth,  —  a  temple  within 
whose  walls  the  nations  are  to  be  gathered. 
They  had  laid  down  their  lives  as  stepping- 
stones  in  the  brook  of  time,  that  on  them 
the  Son  of  Man  might  walk  in  His  trium- 
phant progress  round  the  world.  Thus  to 
build  and  thus  to  be  were  compensation 
sufficient. 

We  ask,  Was  Christ's  life  happy  or  un- 
happy, joyous  or  sad?     It  seems  to  me  that 


REWARDS  OF  CHRISTIAN  WORK.       151 

it  must  have  been  a  life  in  which  both  joy 
and  sadness  were  more  complete  than  in  that 
of  any  other  man.  No  one  of  Christ's  insight 
into  human  nature,  of  Christ's  tender  heart, 
could  live  thirty-three  years  without  seeing 
the  sufferings  of  our  poor,  fallen,  suffering 
humanity.  Do  you  not  think  that  He  who 
saw  and  felt  all  the  anguish  and  woe  and 
sorrow  of  human  hearts  must  have  been  sad 
and  sorrowful?  We  never  read  of  His  smil- 
ing; we  do  read  of  His  weeping.  I  think 
He  must  also  have  wept  many  silent  tears. 
But  do  you  not  think  that  compensations  of 
infinite  worth  were  also  His  ?  What  if  one 
could  go  down  to  the  pestilential  parts  of  the 
great  towns  and  say  to  the  hungry,  suffering, 
maimed,  perishing  bodies  and  souls,  "  Come 
to  me ;  I  will  give  you  what  you  most  need," 
would  not  his  heart  be  full  of  the  deepest 
and  richest  and  completest  joy  .?  This  was 
Christ's  power.  This  power  must  have  been 
the  source  of  joy.  He  could  give.  He  wanted 
to  give.  He  did  give  to  all  just  so  far  as 
they  were  willing  to  receive  what  each  most 


152  THE   WORKING   CHURCH. 

needed.  His  work  was  simply  the  work  of 
man  and  of  God,  —  the  work  of  the  God-man 
for  the  redemption  of  the  world.  His  life 
must  have  been  a  life  of  the  supremest  joy 
and  satisfaction. 

In  the  feudal  period  of  the  Middle  Ages, 
when  a  young  man  was  to  be  made  a  knight, 
the  attendants  clothed  him  in  a  white  tunic,  a 
symbol  of  purity  ;  in  a  red  robe,  a  symbol  of 
the  blood  which  he  was  bound  to  shed  in  the 
service  of  the  faith  ;  in  a  toga,  —  a  close  black 
coat,  —  a  symbol  of  the  death  which  awaited 
him  as  well  as  all  men.  They  put  on  his  coat 
of  mail,  bound  on  his  spurs,  and  girded  on  his 
sword.  With  his  helmet  on  his  brow,  bran- 
dishing his  lance,  he  went  forth  to  war  in  the 
contest  of  chivalry.  Imprisonment,  suffering, 
death,  might  await  him  ;  honor  and  fame  and 
station  might  be  his  reward :  but  if  he  were  a 
true  chevalier,  his  deepest  compensation  would 
be  the  assurance  that  he  was  fighting  for  the 
faith  with  all  his  might,  and  that  a  hundred 
deaths  were  a  bauble  compared  to  his  loyalty 
to  his  Divine  Master  and  Lord.    We  recognize 


REWARDS  OF  CHRISTIAN  WORK.       I  53 

the  compensations  of  the  passive  Christian 
virtues.  We  remember  the  eighth  chapter 
of  Romans.  We  know  that  like  the  anchor  to 
the  ship  is  this  assurance  that  all  things  work 
together  for  good  to  the  believer.  We  know 
that  confidence  which  is  founded  upon  the 
truth  that  **  every  man's  life  is  a  plan  of 
God."  We  know  the  blessedness  of  seeing 
the  love  of  God  as  revealed  in  the  cross  of 
Christ.  They  are  all  rich  blessings  and 
heavenly  rewards  of  Christian  service.  But 
we  would  first  give  to  men  a  richer  com- 
pensation, the  compensation  of  the  service 
itself.  "  Behold,  we  have  left  all  and  fol- 
lowed thee."  The  following  is  the  reward. 
Every  faithful  Christian  can  well  say :  *'  My 
Lord,  in  His  work  among  men  for  God,  suf- 
fered. If  in  my  work  He  calls  me  to  suffer, 
in  that  suffering  may  I  find  compensation. 
My  Lord  knew  His  Gethsemane.  If  I  also 
have  a  Gethsemane,  there,  in  the  night  and 
the  cold  and  the  loneliness,  too,  may  I  find 
my  compensation.  My  Lord  was  crucified. 
If  I  am  also  nailed  to  some  cross,  in  the  very 


154  THE    WORKING   CHURCH. 

agony  of  death  may  I  find  compensation  :  all, 
all  in  the  assurance  that  the  suffering,  the 
dark  Gethsemane,  and  the  cross  are  the 
ways  in  which  I  work  with  God  in  His  labors 
for  the  redemption  of  the  world." 


UNDER  FRENCH  SKIES; 

Or,    Sunny   Kielos    ^no    Shady  Woods. 
By  Madame  de  GASPARIN, 

Author  of  ^^  Near  and  Heavenly   Horizons." 
16ino,  Cloth,  $1.25. 


This  is  a  new  work  by  the  author  of  "  Near  and  Heavenly  Hori- 
zons," which,  when  pubhshed  some  years  ago,  attained  such  popularity 
that  the  Countess  Gasparin's  latest  publication  will  probably  be 
eagerly  sought  for.  The  author's  love  of  nature,  the  depth  of  her 
religious  feeling,  and  the  rare  quality  of  her  literary  skill,  give  her 
works  a  charm  and  grace  which  secure  to  them  an  assured  place  in 
literature. 

"  We  have  seldom  read  a  professedly  religious  book  so  thoroughly 
free  from  dogmatism,  so  sympathetic  in  its  tone,  and  so  wholesome 
in  its  spirit  of  wide  and  truly  Christian  charily,  or  one  in  which  the 
author  so  evidently  wrote  from  the  fullness  of  the  heart.  Considered 
merely  as  a  literary  production,  Madame  de  Gasparin's  work  is  equally 
deserving  of  praise.  There  is  about  it  an  amount  of  care  and  of  finish 
which  are  not  amongst  the  least  proofs  of  the  writer's  earnestness  and 
sincerity." — Glasgoiv  Herald. 

"  This  collection  of  histoi-iettes  by  Madame  de  Gasparin  has  to  do, 
in  the  way  of  scene,  chiefly  with  the  Jura  borderland  district  on  the 
Swiss  and  French  frontiers.  It  has  a  type  of  beauty  of  its  own.  Its 
modest  mountain  heights  contrasted  with  the  magnificent  panorama 
of  the  Bernese  Oberland  within  view,  its  wealth  of  dark  pine  forest, 
its  pastoral  highlands  of  mtense  green,  have  great  attractions  for 
many,  not  least  for  the  authoress  herself.  And  this  district,  known 
and  loved  as  it  is  by  the  writer,  is  here  peopled  with  a  number  of 
actors  who  come  forward  in  the  various  tales  contained  in  the  volume. 
Raoul  and  Marjolaine,  the  happy  young  couple  in  their  mountain 
cottage  and  bit  of  farm,  Pierre  the  woodman,  Silvio  and  Serinelte,  the 
loves  of  Victor  and  Louise  ;  these,  and  many  more,  form  the  dfamatis 
personcB  that  appear  in  the  pleasant  pages  of  the  book." — London 
Bookseller. 

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Two  Books  of  National  Interest. 


Tha  very  general  attention  attracted  by  the  publication,  under  the 
title  of  "National  Perils  and  Opportunities,"  of  the  Discussions  of  the 
General  Christian  Conference  held  at  Washington,  D.C.,  Dec.  7-9, 
1887,  under  the  auspices  of  the  Evangelical  Alliance,  has  induced  the 
publishers,  in  the  hope  of  finding  a  still  larger  circle  of  readers,  to 
issue,  in  two  uniform  cheap  volumes,  certain  of  these  noteworthy 
papers,  grouped  under  the  two  following  titles,  which  describe  the 
divisions  into  which  the  work  of  the  Conference  naturally  fell : 

PROBLEMS  OF  AMERICAN  CIVILIZATION:  Their  Prac- 
tical Solution  the  Pressing  Christian  Duty  of  To-day.  By  Pres- 
idents McCosH  and  Gates,  Bishop  Coxe,  Rev.  Drs.  Pierson, 
Dorchester,  McPherson,  and  Havgood  ;  Hon.  Seth  Low  ; 
Prof.  BOYESEN  ;  Col.  J.  L.  Greene,  and  Rev.  Samuel  Lane 
LoOMis.  (Uniform  with  Co  operation  in  Christian  Work.) 
i6mo.     Paper,  30  cents  ;  cloth,  60  cents. 

The  topics  are:  "Immigration,"  by  Boyesen  ;  "Misuse  of 
Wealth,"  by  Gates  ;  "  Estrangement  from  the  Church,"  by  Pierson  ; 
"  Uitramontanism,"  by  Coxe  ;  "  The  Saloon,"  by  Haygood  ;  "The 
Social  Vice,"  by  Grp:ene  ;  Relation  of  the  Church  to  the  Capital  and 
Labor  Question,"  by  McCosh  and  Low  ;  "  The  City  as  a  Peril,"  by 
Dorchester,  McPherson,  and  Loomis. 

CO-OPERATION  IN  CHRISTIAN  WORK  :  Common  Ground 
for  United  Interdenominational  Effort.  By  Bishop  Harris, 
Rev.  Drs.  Storrs,  Gladden,  Strong,  Russell,  Schauffler, 
Gordon,  King,  and  Hatcher,  President  Gilman,  Professor 
Geo.  E.  Post,  and  others.  (Uniform  with  "  Problems  of  Amer- 
ican Civilization.")     i6mo.     Paper,  30  cents  ;  cloth,  60  cents. 

The  topics  are  :  "  Necessity  of  Co-operation  in  Christian  Work," 
by  Storrs,  Harris,  Gladden,  and  Post  ;  "  Methods  of  Co-opera- 
tion in  Christian  Work,"  by  Strong  ;  "  Co-operation  in  Small  Cities," 
by  Russell;  "Co-operation  in  Large  Cities,"  by  Schauffler; 
"Christian  Resources  of  Our  Country,"  by  King,  Gilman,  and 
Hatcher;  "Individual  Responsibility  Growing  out  of  Perils  and 
Opportunities,"  by  Gordon,  and  others. 

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A    WORK   OF   PROFOUND    INTEREST    TO    THE 
CHRISTIAN    WORLD! 


SOCIALISM   AND 

CHRISTIANITY. 

By  A.   J.    F.   BEHBENDS,  D.D. 

12N10,    F*APEJR,    50    CENX3.        CLOTH,    Sl.OO 


This  book  treats  from  a  new  point  of  view  the  problems  raised  by  the  most 
frequently  advanced  social  theories  of  the  day  ;  their  relations  to  the  reciprocal 
duties  of  Labor  and  Capital,  and  the  position  of  the  Christian  Church  with 
reference  to  the  social  and  industrial  movements  that  are  taking  place  about  it. 

CONTENTS: 

I.  Social  Theories.  II.  Historical  Sketch.  III.  The  Assumptions  of 
Modern  Sociahsm.  IV.  The  Economic  Fallacies  of  Modern  Socialism. 
V.  The  Rights  of  Labor.  VI.  The  Responsibihties  of  Wealth.  VII.  The 
Personal  and  Social  Causes  of  Pauperism.  VIII.  The  Historical  Causes 
of  Pauperism  and  its  Cure.  IX.  The  Treatment  of  the  Criminal  Classes. 
X.    Modern  Socialism,  Religion,  and  the  Family. 

"It  is  a  book  for  the  times  in  the  interest  of  truth  and  justice  and  pure  religion. 
We  have  read  it  from  beginning  to  end  with  unflagging  interest,  and  shall  read  it  a 
second  time  this  summer,  and  hope  to  lay  some  extracts  before  our  readers."  —  New 
York  Observer. 

"  It  is  the  first  approach  to  a  popular  systematic  presentation  of  the  principles  of 
the  destructive  socialism  of  the  day.  The  questions  which  it  discusses  are  now  so 
prominent,  and  their  social  bearing  is  so  vital,  that  ministers  should  deal  with  them. 
We  commend  this  volume  to  them,  especially  to  all  who  desire  to  get  an  intelligent 
view  of  one  of  the  burning  questions  of  the  day."  — Presbyterian  Journal. 

"  The  book  should  be  in  every  home  ;  and  we  are  sure  that  if  the  principles  which 
it  advocates  and  the  information  which  it  presents  were  given  to  every  family  in  the 
land,  the  present  disturbances  in  our  country  would  soon  be  at  an  end."  —  St.  Louis 
Central  Baptist. 


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EVANGELISTIC  WORK 

In  Principle  and    Practice. 

By   Rev.  Artthur  T.  Pierson,  D.  D. 
12mo,  Cloth,  $1.25. 

A  new  book  on  that  method  which  has  been  one  of  the  most 
potent  means  of  building  up  the  Christian  Church — Evangelization. 
It  is  written  by  an  acknowledgv,d  master  of  the  subject. 

*'  This  book  is  preeminently  a  book  for  the  hour.  It  is  at  once 
a  fruit  of  the  reviving  evangelistic  spirit  and  a  welcome  and  powerful 
force  for  the  promotion  of  that  spirit  among  the  disciples  of  Christ. 
All  who  are  working  for  Christ,  especially  all  ministers  and  teachers, 
ought  to  procure  and  study  this  book." — Christian  Statesman. 

"  More  truth,  perhaps,  than  can  be  found  in  any  single  uninspired 
book,  concerning  'evangelistic  work,'  is  included  in  a  volume  with 
this  title,  by  Arthur  T.  Pierson,  D.D.  Truths  of  the  first  imp'ortance 
are  spoken  concerning  methods  and  the  treatment  of  the  poor.  After 
having  set  down  the  principle  as  he  believes  it  to  be,  the  author  has 
enforced  it  in  sketches  of  Whitefield,  Howard,  Finney,  Chalmers, 
Moody,  Bliss,  and  others.  The  book  ought  to  have  a  wide  circulation ; 
it  cannot  but  be  productive  of  the  greatest  good." — Hartford  Post. 

"Every  phase  of  the  question  is  discussed,  the  methods  and 
merits  of  different  evangelists  are  set  forth,  apostolic  and  modem 
preaching  compared,  and  the  causes  of  failure  and  success  in  minis- 
terial work  portrayed.  It  Is  a  book  to  be  studied  by  all  church 
workers. " — Indianapolis  Journal. 

"The  book  is  dedicated  to  Dwight  L.  Moody,  and  would  seem 
to  contain  nearly  all  that  can  be  said  in  the  way  of  information, 
instruction,  example,  or  exhortation  upon  the  subject. " 

— Baptist  Standard. 

"  The  chapters  on  the  great  Evangelists  are  delightfully  written 
in  a  lofty  and  devout  spirit." — Indianapolis  News. 

"  His  views  will  be  accepted  as  of  orthodox  authority." 

—  Washington  Critic. 

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MODERN    CITIES 

AND    THEIR    RELIGIOUS    PROBLEMS. 

By  Rev.  SAMUEL  LANE  LOOMIS. 

With  an  Introduction  by  Rev.  JOSIAH    STRONG,  D.I>. 

12nno,    Cloth,    $  1  .OO. 


"  For  all  who  love  their  fellow-men,  this  book  will  be  a  stimulus 
and  a  guide.  It  presents  clearly  and  forcibly  the  increasingly  difficult 
problem  of  the  modern  city,  and  will  prove  to  be  a  storehouse  of  in- 
formation to  all  workers  in  this  field.  Like  'Our  Country,'  by  Rev. 
Dr.  Strong,  this  book  is  one  of  the  most  marked  books  of  the  current 
year.  Every  worker  in  city  or  country  should  read  and  inwardly 
digest  this  suggestive  volume." — Rev.  A.  F.  Schauffler,  D.D. 

"  This  volume  is  in  point  and  substance  the  cornpanion  volume  to 
be  read  in  connection  with  '  Our  Country/  by  the  Rev  Josiah  Strong, 
D.D.  The  author's  sociology  is  sound.  The  chapters  on  methods 
of  philanthropic  endeavor,  and  especially  those  whiqh  show  what  has 
been  done,  are  wise  and  helpful.  We  commend  the  book  heartily  to 
our  readers. " —  'J  he  Independent. 

"  This  is  an  important  little  volume,  and  a  fit  companion  to  place 
side  by  side  with  the  remarkable  work  by  Dr.  Strong,  entitled  *  Our 
Country.'  It  is  a  book  which  will  startle  many  and  convince  all  who 
read  it.  It  ought  to  go  into  every  household  in  the  land." — Christian 
at  Work. 

*'The  author  has  reached  more  nearly  to  the  true  cause  of  the 
difficulty,  and  the  proper  manner  to  remove  it,  than  any  other  author 
with  whose  works  we  are  acquainted." — Hartford  Post. 

"A  striking  and  sensible  book — one  of  the  clearest  and  best  things 
ever  written  on  this  live  and  stirring  current  question." — Michigan 
Christian  Advocate. 

"A  timely  book,  well  written,  sensible,  practical.  A  book  that 
deserves  reading." — Springfield  Union. 

"  The  present  volume  is  directly  to  the  point,  wise,  timely,  and 
earnest. " — Christian  Sanctuary. 

"  This  is  a  very  able  book." — Baltimore  Sun. 


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A  Book  for  all  who  love  God  and   Country, 
The    116th    Thousand  of  "that  Wonderful   Book," 

OUR  COUNTRY: 

ITS    POSSIBLE    FUTURE    AND    ITS    PRESENl 
CRISIS. 

By  Rev.  JOSIAH   STRONG,   D.D. 
With  an  Introduction  by  Prof.  AUSTIN   PHELPS,  D.D. 


229  PAGES.     12mo.  PAPER,  25  CENTS.     CLOTH,  50  CENTS. 


This  is  probably  the  most  powerful  work  that  has  come  from  the 
American  press  during  the  present  century.  ^  With  a  brilliantly 
marshalled  array  of  unimpeachable  facts,  it  portrays  America's 
material,  social  and  religious  condition  and  probable  trend,  points 
out  the  perils  which  threaten  her  future,  and,  with  wonderful  clear- 
ness and  tremendous  force,  both  shows  the  means  of  averting 
danger  and  inspires  enthusiasm  for  the  task.  The  wide  circulation 
of  this  book  has  given  an  extraordinary  impulse  to  the  work  of 
holding  America  for  the  highest,  political,  social  and  religious, 
national  life.  The  following  notices  show  what  the  press  and  the 
pulpit  think  of  it : 

"Strong,  careful,  thoughtful." — Boston  Journal, 

"Stirring,  startling,  convincing." — The  Guardian. 

••  Ought  to  reach  a  circulation  of  a  million." — N.  Y.  Evangelist. 

**  Ought  to  be  read  by  every  person  in  this  country." — St.  Louis  Central 
Baptist. 

"Words  are  feeble  in  the  recommendation  of  this  book.  It  enlightens, 
stirs,  quickens,  and  makes  the  blood  boil  with  patriotic  zeal  and  Chrisiiaji 
vehemence." — Pulpit  Treasury. 

"  ' Our  Country'  is  the  one  book  next  to  the  Bible  that  I  want  them  (the 
people)  to  read." — Rev.  A.  T.  Reed,  Plainville,  Conn. 

"  It  thrills  me  through  and  through." — Rev.  T.  O.  Douglas. 

"  The  best  book  of  its  sort  ever  published." — Rev.  Wayland  Hoyt,  D.D. 

"It  seems  to  me  the  most  important  book  which  has  been  issued  in  this 
decade." — Rev.  Charles  F.  Deems.,  D.D. 

"  This  volume  is  a  storehouse  of  information.  We  recall  no  recent  volume 
which  has  so  much  packed  into  it  of  value  for  the  minister,  the  editor,  the 
teacber,  and  in  general,  the  patriot,  as  this  little  volume  on  '  Our  Country-.'  " 
— Christian  Union. 

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